Introduction. Tynesiders have all (well most of them) have heard of the “Newcastle Theatre Royal” on Newcastle’s Gray Street, but not many realise that it is not the only theatre that bears the Royal name, there were others on both sided of the river Tyne in South Shields, Jarrow, Hebburn, Gateshead(?), and Wallsend, all having a Royal Theatre of one kind or another. There have possibly been five different buildings in North Shields that have bourn the Royal name, the first probably being on the quayside was built in 1765. Its next incarnation was on the corner of Howard & Union streets (1783), the third on Howard street till 1789, then a rebuild on that site which stood till 1876. The final one was opened in 1879 as the Grand Theatre of Varieties, but the building, on Prudhoe Street, quickly changed its name to the Theatre Royal, North Shields.
King Robert (1948) North Shields Theatres, Northumberland Press, Gateshead.