Ocean Road Mela Returns for Fifth Year to Celebrate South Shields' Communities

Ocean Road is the beating heart of South Shields' food scene, so it is a fitting place for the town to celebrate the communities behind it. On Sunday the fifth annual Ocean Road Mela filled the famous street with music, food and colour, drawing hundreds of visitors despite some early showers.

A festival grown from the ground up

Mela means "festival" in Hindi, and the event lives up to the name. The road, already home to restaurants serving cuisine from all over the world, was packed with food stalls, trade stalls, crafts, children's activities and entertainers, from stilt walkers to singing groups.

The day is run by a grass-roots collective, bringing together Bangladeshi community groups, local restaurants, South Tyneside Council and other partners. Shah Choudhury, of organisers the South Tyneside Bangladeshi Catering Federation, said the atmosphere spoke for itself.

Best for: "This is our fifth year, so it's great to see everyone coming together enjoying the mela. There's been a nice atmosphere, nice food and nice people coming from all different backgrounds." — Shah Choudhury

Celebrating a community that shaped the town

The first Mela was held in 2021 as a celebration of South Shields' Bangladeshi community, and has grown each year to include other cultures across the region. Theatre figure Ray Spencer MBE, who had the idea during the 2020 lockdown, said it was important to celebrate a community that has "been here for over 50 years bringing us the finest cuisine" on what he called a legendary street.

That heritage runs deep in the town. To learn more about how seafarers settled here and created the food scene, read our guide to The Arab Quarter and Ocean Road's multicultural heritage, or plan a meal out with our guide to Ocean Road, home to restaurants including Café India, Spice Garden and Zeera Indian Cuisine.

The event was reported by the Shields Gazette.

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