The Avenue: A Newcastle Backstreet Boyhood

The Avenue stretched from Elswick Road to Scotswood Road, and almost every house in it was tenemented. There were four courtyards and a conglomeration of passages. Situated at one end of each of these courtyards was a row of toilets, and we watched as queues formed outside each of them. We were soon to become accustomed to this distressing necessity. It would be almost impossible to describe every aspect of this dirty lane, but this much can be said - even in those days of housing shortages...