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Simon Duke

The tale of Baja Beach Club - from cheesy music heaven to unrecognisable new office space

Cast your minds back 20 years and there was one nightspot in Newcastle which everyone knew - Baja Beach Club.

A journey over the swing bridge from Newcastle, Baja was a haven for all things cheesy music at a time when Hear'say were the biggest group in the country, Will Young was about to win Pop Idol and smoking was still very much allowed in indoor premises.

A stone's throw away from another iconic Tyneside rite of passage - The Boat - Baja was one of those haunts that had to be seen to be believed.

While, unlike The Boat it didn't have a drink all you want for a tenner offer or a perilous revolving dancefloor, (which these days would be a huge health and safety no no!) what Quayside neighbour Baja did have was dancers, which at one time included a pre-Liberty X Michelle Heaton, who dressed up as everything from the Village People to the nuns from Sister Act; its famous balloon drops and the pièce de résistance - it's own upstairs beach cafe.

READ MORE: A night out in Newcastle in 2009 - recognise anyone in our photos?

After you'd risked getting a cigarette burn from another over enthusiastic clubber while dancing to the likes of Billy Ocean's Love Really Hurts Without You, Tiffany guilty pleasure I Think We're Alone now, Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up or Divinyls - I Touch Myself, you could amble upstairs (probably after too many VKs or Reefs!) and get some chips and a burger to end your night.

Dancer's pictures of Baja Beach Club (Roxie Cooper)

In its hey day, shark-headed musical smorgasbord Baja was jam packed many nights of the week, after also becoming a big favourite with students as well as locals, with Metro Radio broadcasting live from the club every Friday.

It was a sad day when, after a drop in footfall as people took their custom elsewhere, Baja closed its doors in the summer of 2008.

Inside Aspire Technology Solutions new offices - the old Baja Beach Club (JB Photography)

For years it stood empty, cutting a sad sight for any former regulars who'd walk or drive past and instantly be transported back to nights out that would always end with a blast of the Cheers theme tune.

After more than a decade in the wilderness, the empty Baja premises were acquired by Newcastle property company Adderstone Group at the start of 2019.

Now called Pipewell Quay and without a shark head in sight, the building now comprises of three floors, incorporating state of the art office space, break-out zones and meeting rooms.

It has rooms named after world famous pioneers and local icons like Tim Berners-Lee, Alan Turing and Catherine Cookson.

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