Meadow Well Riots

Nice thread for a Friday afternoon I know.

Have to say I'd never heard of it and just been reading about it this afternoon. What are people's memories of it?
 


They got a shed load of money invested in the area and a cracking set of football pitches. Played up there a lot back in the day
 
I was a teen at the time and remember seeing news footage of burning building and cars and being astonished that it was happening only a short distance from home.

My brother went to Wet and Wild shortly afterwards and they got off the Metro at the wrong stop and walked through. He had a Sunderland top on. He survived but my Mam went mental about it :lol:
 
Nice thread for a Friday afternoon I know.

Have to say I'd never heard of it and just been reading about it this afternoon. What are people's memories of it?

I remember on the 2nd night when it spread to the west end (which was arguably worse and went on for another 3 nights until it rained) that my gran who lived in Benwell had to come and stay with us. At that time the west end had the highest arson rate in Europe (even before the riots).

The meadowell riots were kicked off by the deaths of 2 young joyriders (although their parents famously denied they were joyriders staring they were professional car thieves..) during a police chase where the community blamed the police. Both meadowell and the West end were tough places at the time with mass youth unemployment and the riots were always going to happen (not condoning people stoning and housing petrol bombs at the police and destroying property) it just seemed inevitable at the time.
 
My friend watching the coverage when we were all down in London, spotting his street on the telly, complete with his dog which had escaped.

:lol:

Fantastic that :lol:

I remember on the 2nd night when it spread to the west end (which was arguably worse and went on for another 3 nights until it rained) that my gran who lived in Benwell had to come and stay with us. At that time the west end had the highest arson rate in Europe (even before the riots).

The meadowell riots were kicked off by the deaths of 2 young joyriders (although their parents famously denied they were joyriders staring they were professional car thieves..) during a police chase where the community blamed the police. Both meadowell and the West end were tough places at the time with mass youth unemployment and the riots were always going to happen (not condoning people stoning and housing petrol bombs at the police and destroying property) it just seemed inevitable at the time.

Wasn't aware that the riots in the west end of Newcastle (which I have heard of) were linked. Interesting.
 
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Fantastic that :lol:



Wasn't aware that the riots in the west end of Newcastle (which I have heard of) were linked. Interesting.

The day after the meadiwell riots there was a sign hanging round a lamppost on Armstrong Road in Benwell saying riots tonight kick off 7pm (seriously)

Basically copycat behaviour there was also disturbances in walker and Wallsend in the East end too.
 
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There was a lot of graffiti on the toilet walls when I was working a Press Offshore in Wallsend at the time.

Someone had wrote something like RIP-Killed by Police.

In the next couple of days that little bit was surrounded by stuff like car thief scum and good riddance.

The bloke who must have wrote it replied to every little bit of graffiti trying to justify the two joy riders.
 
Nice thread for a Friday afternoon I know.

Have to say I'd never heard of it and just been reading about it this afternoon. What are people's memories of it?

Remember it well, made for cracking news as a young un and did millions of pounds of improvements to that shit hole estate.
 
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