intended as an elegant shopping experience. The Royal Arcade was not a commercial success, as it was positioned too far away from the main shopping areas of the town centre. Although demolition was considered as early as the 1880s, the arcade survived until the 1960s. Eldon Square In 1824 Dobson was commissioned by Richard Grainger to produce designs for Eldon Square. The design was for three terraces facing a central square, each terrace being of two and a half storeys. The east and west terraces consisted of 27 bays of windows, whilst the north terrace had 39 bays. The first floors had continuous cast-iron balconies with Grecian honeysuckle decoration. Beyond this and the giant Doric pilasters at the end of each terrace there was no other decoration so that the whole effect was very simple and clean. The terraces were faced with finely cut ashlar, which was a marked improvement on the stucco used extensively in London architecture of the time. Only the east terrace survives, as the other two were demolished by 1973 to make room for Eldon Square Shopping Centre. Grainger Market Grainger's plans for the development of Newcastle town centre involved the demolition of the existing flesh market. Grainger therefore offered to build a new meat market and vegetable market. The meat market was placed between two of the new streets, Grainger Street and Clayton Street, and the vegetable market was placed on the west side of Clayton Street. Both were designed by Dobson. The meat market had pilastered arcades, 360 windows, fanlights and wooden cornices, and four avenues each long. It contained 180 butchers' shops when it opened. The vegetable market was given an open-plan layout, long, wide and high, with a fine timber roof. In 1835, to celebrate the opening of the markets, a grand dinner was given in the vegetable market, with 2,000 guests and presided over by the Mayor. Surprisingly, in the after-dinner speeches no mention was made of Dobson. Grey Street The crowning piece of Grainger's plan for the development of Newcastle was to be a new street leading up from Dean Street to intersect with Blackett Street. Originally called Upper Dean Street, it was eventually renamed as Grey Street. Dobson was originally given the credit for the design of the whole street (by Pevsner for one), possibly due to his daughter's assertions, but it is now believed that Dobson was responsible