I spend a lot of time around Howard Street and Northumberland Square
Northumberland Square photo by Ernest Storey
I moved here in 2014. When I met my husband, we used to come to the sea a lot to surf, we loved Tynemouth and we loved the area around here and we decided that after we got married we wanted to live near the sea, so we chose North Shields.
I spend a lot of time around Howard Street and Northumberland Square, for different reasons. I go to a Pilates class regularly in The Exchange in Howard Street, which has been really improved and that whole street and park area has been really improved so it’s a nice route for me to walk from home to there. I go to the café there a lot and I just think that area is
The Exchange, Howard St. photo by Ron Hillaby
representative of how North Shields has really got better over the last decade since we’ve lived here.
I’m really happy to see that there’s a lot of development going on in North Shields, I think it can only make it better, the new housing they’re building, they’re taking away derelict areas. I guess I would like there to be more community spaces, I love some of the big events that have been organized recently for North Shields 800. Things like the Salt Market, Gallery Exhibitions, there’s been things like photography walks and I think things that are community events where people seem to be really proud of living in North Shields, that’s really something at the moment. You can sense that people are suddenly proud to live here, so more community spaces, maybe more galleries, possibly more spaces for the kids.
I don’t think there’s anything like a youth space at the moment and I think that would be really good. The skate park is great, but on a winter night like this it would be really nice if there was somewhere that the kids could go or there were events on in the local area.
I recently started working for myself, doing more writing, photography, that kind of stuff. In fact it’s funny that with new businesses that are going in this area, places like Harbour House, I’ve found there’s been work for me in those kind of areas and I want to develop that more, I want to do more writing especially, like the stuff I really enjoy. I guess I want that to flourish, it’s been something that been happening in the last year so I’d like to make more of that for me. My boys really, I just want them to be happy, I want them to do whatever makes them happy and I’m happy to live here.
Zoe was interviewed in 2025 as part of the North Shields Voices Project