VIDEO: Forgotten streets of Gateshead revealed in new exhibition

Never before seen pictures of medieval, Georgian and Victorian streets of Gateshead are to be shown in a new exhibition.

‘Secret Streets’, will be the first time that many of these images will have been seen as a collection in public.

The photographs were all taken at the request of Gateshead’s Medical Officer for Health and Chief Sanitation Officer, who inspected hundreds of homes following the introduction of the Housing Act in 1930.

The act led to the clearance of more slum housing in Britain that at any time previously, and prompted the building of 700,000 new homes.

The photographs, which were originally kept for public record at that time, will now go on display at St Mary's Heritage Centre.

It is open from 3 February to 28 March and admission is free.