Location 18: Coronation Street

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You can now make your way back along Coronation Street, back towards the west end of town.

Coronation Street was given its name to mark the coronation of King George lV in 1820. However, it had existed long before then, being previously known as the Back Lonnin (back lane). It was the old back road from Bishopwearmouth to Sunderland Parish and ended at Church Street close to the Town Moor.

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The street ran east to west but the new streets that were built in the nineteenth century running south from High Street all cut through it. As a result there were many corner sites and those that were not residences were used as public houses, shops or small businesses. 

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In 1822 a small Union Chapel was added on the south side of the street at the west end of Sussex Street.

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With so many crossroads and corner sites, Coronation Street could never be described as an elegant street, however, the numerous pubs and shops gave it a certain character and, in the early twentieth century along with High Street, it gave direct access for East End residents to the rest of the town, the main shopping area and the railway station.

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 By the 1930’s the street had deteriorated and many of the buildings were in poor condition. As a result the majority of the street was demolished under the Slum Clearance Scheme. At that time there was a need to alleviate the overcrowding in the town. A slum clearance plan to build 3000 houses in five years was begun and, in the east end, North Eastern Housing Association in conjunction with the Council, built sets of rectangular flats called Garths. Further clearance took place in the early 1960’s when a number of pubs and shops were demolished. However, a small part of the western end of the street leading up to Sunniside still remained containing a few small shops and businesses. By the late 1990’s a new ring road was opened to ease the growing traffic problems in Sunderland's city centre. Part of the road was built running north to south along the line of the former Sans Street and this had the effect of cutting off the western end of Coronation Street from the east end of the city. At the same time most of the garths were demolished and replaced with new houses.