FORMER Labour Party leader Lord Neil Kinnock was in the region yesterday to open a restaurant.
The 66-year-old was at Gateshead Civic Centre to officially launch Bewicks restaurant, coffee shop and bat.
It has been named in honour of Thomas Bewick, the 18th Century ornithologist and engraver who lived in West Street, near the site where the Civic Centre now stands.
The opening was followed by carols sung by the Civic Centre Choir and a festive dinner of turkey and Christmas pudding.
A spokesman for Gateshead Council said: “The opening of Bewicks marks the completion of six months of work to transform the former staff restaurant and function suite into a new public restaurant.”
The design and major re-building work were all completed in-house by the council’s architects and construction teams, he added.
Lord Kinnock last visited 21 years ago when he opened the borough’s civic centre.
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