An innocuous-looking car park at the rear of the Cloth Markets Merchant House, has been granted planning permission for another container village-style bar.  What looks likes an extension to the Market Shaker complex, will have 2 container bars and all the associated trappings of the cool outdoor drinking areas.

From blurry photos on google earth, it looks as though the Market Shaker guys want to make the current beer terrace a comfortable self-contained bar in its own right. The latest expansion comes hot on the heels of the reopening of Pumphreys as a blues bar (which is a huge step up from its previous ‘Star Wars bar’).

The conversion of the car park also destroys an important part of Newcastle history and cultural fabric, because it’s where I used to go for a wee and then, somehow, get lost looking for the way out.