The staiths were still being used in the 1970's. But, with the decline of the coal industry, they were finally closed and partially dismantled in 1980.

The first section of the Tyne and Wear Metro from Tynemouth to Haymarket (in Newcastle City Centre) via Benton, was opened on the 11th of August 1980. At this time, Tynemouth served as the terminus with all trains using the present Platform 2. The first Metro left Tynemouth Station at 5.27am, bound for Haymarket, with fares starting at 8p.

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The first Blaydon Race run from Newcastle to Blaydon was held on the 9th June 1981. The 5.9 mile road race was organised by Dr James Dewar of Blaydon Harriers. It became an annual event, held on th 9th of June every year, and begins with the singing of "The Blaydon Races", the folk song by Geordie Ridley, about the horse race of that name. The route starts from Collingwood Street in Newcastle, heading west along Scotswood Road, crossing the Scotswood Bridge, and finishing in Blaydon. The winners of the first run in 1981 were Mike McLeod of  Elswick Harriers (fastest male: 26:27) and H Boyes of Morpeth Harriers (fastest female: 34:10).

HMS Ark Royal was launched by the The Queen Mother, from Swan Hunter at Wallsend, on the 2nd of June, 1981. The  Invincible class aircraft carrier was completed in 1985 and became the flagship of the Royal Navy.

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The first Great North Run was held on the 28th June, 1981. 12,000 runners took part in the half marathon from Newcastle to South Shields.

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The Queen Elizabeth II bridge over the Tyne was officialy opened by the Queen on the 6th November, 1981. The bridge was constructed for the Tyne & Wear Metro.

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Kielder Water was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II on the 26th May 1982. The reservoir is the largest man-made lake in the UK by water capacity.

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The Military Vehicle Museum opened in 1983 and was formerly located in the Palace of Arts in Exhibition Park in Newcastle. The museum was run by North East Land, Sea & Air Museums (NELSAM); a group of enthusiasts who first began meeting in 1974.

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The third and current Redheugh Bridge, over the River Tyne was built by Edmund Nuttall Ltd and opened by Princess Diana on the 18th May 1983.

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HMS Ark Royal left the Tyne for the first time on her first sea trials on the 19th October, 1984.

In 1985 the upper level of the Queen Alexandra Bridge, in Sunderland, was dismantled. The upper level was built to carry the railway, but the last train ran across the bridge in 1921. The bridge remains in use for road vehicles and pedestrians. Parts of the old railway approach viaduct remain standing.

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Parsons Polygon is a sculpture by David Hamilton, which was installed on Blackett Street, Newcastle, in 1985. The sculpture commemorates Sir Charles Parsons (1854-1931), the Newcastle-based engineer who developed steam turbines for generating electricity. The designs pressed into the clay are abstracted from Parsons' engineering drawings. The sculpture is also a ventilation shaft for the Metro system!

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Weardale Museum, located in High House Chapel in Ireshopeburn, was established by volunteers in 1985, to preserve the heritage of Weardale.

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The national Miners Strike ended on 3rd March 1985 following a National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) vote to return to work. The strike had lasted a year and involved 142,000 mineworkers. It has been described as "the most bitter industrial dispute in British history". 

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HMS Ark Royal was formally commissioned into the Royal Navy by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, on the 1st November 1985. The huge carrier began active service almost 7 years after construction began at the Swan Hunter shipyard in Wallsend, and 4 years after its initial launch - followed by fitting and extensive sea trials.

Beamish open-air museum is named British Museum of the Year.

The first phase of the Metro Centre opened for it's first preview on 22nd April 1986. The shopping complex, located near Dunston in Gateshead, was developed by Sir John hall and his Cameron Hall company.

The first phase of the Nissan car factory at Sunderland was officially opened by then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The factory had already been in production for two months at the time of the official opening. It was the first car factory to be built in Europe by a Japanese car maker.

Durham Cathedral & Castle were among the first UK sites to be designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

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Demolition of Killingworth Towers was completed in 1987.

The Towers had been built as a centrepiece of a new town development at Killingworth in the late 1960s/early 1970s. The 27 interconnected concrete towers of 6-10 stories were designed to form 'castle walls', set in a parkland setting.

Hadrian’s Wall was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.

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The Newcastle upon Tyne Town Moor Act 1988 was passed by Parliament. This updated the earlier Act of 1774. Under the terms of the 1988 Act, a joint committee of the Freemen and Newcastle City Council now decides on the management of Town Moor, to maintain it as an area of open space in the interests of the inhabitants of the city. The right of Freemen to graze cattle remains. The act also enables byelaws, such as rules on the use of cycles and other vehicles on the Town Moor, made under Section 7 of the 1988 Act.

At age 21, midfielder Paul Gascoigne became the first £2m footballer signed by a British club, when he left Newcastle United to join Tottenham Hotspur in 1988.

On the 7th of December 1988, it was announced that the last shipyards on the River Wear - North East Shipbuilders Ltd. at Pallion and Southwick - were to close, with the loss of hundreds of jobs. This marked the end of an era; Wearside had been a major ship building area, over the years there had been more than 400 registered shipyards here. Ship building on the Wear dates back to 1346, when Thomas Menvill established a shipyard at Hendon.

The fist Sunderland International Airshow was held in 1989. This was as a single day show, which attracted 250,000 spectators. Because of it's success the Airshow has become an annual, 3 day event, usually held in July each year, at the Roker and Seaburn seafronts.

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The Warner Brothers multiplex cinema at Manors in Newcastle was opened on the 6th of December, 1989, by Phillip Schofield, Caron Keating and the cast of Byker Grove. Kylie Minogue attended the cinema's premiere on the following day.

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