Practice History

The Optometry practice at 196 Chillingham Rd was established in 1956 by Mr. Victor Graham.

Mr Graham, of Brinkburn Street Byker worked initially for Winter's Opticians and instrument makers, Northumberland Street, Newcastle. He missed out on being drafted for the second world war due to a broken toe, sustained whilst playing football! In 1944, he met Evelyn Smith a receptionist at Winter's and they were married in 1945. He was a keen and active footballer and freemason, and they had two sons.

Mr Graham started practicing from home in 1956, mostly in the evenings, while continuing to work at Winter's in Newcastle. He would see three or four patients per day from home. Over time he ended up working three days from home and another three days at a friend's practice in Sunderland.

As business grew, he took over the bakery at 196 Chillingham Road and converted it to an Optician's shop, and moved out to Rowland's Gill, where again he also saw patients at his home. Mr Graham took the freehold for the property in 1962. The upstairs at the time was occupied by an elderly lady who was often looked after by the staff and family of Mr Graham.

Mr. Jan Querido took over the practice from Mr. Victor Graham in 1985. The "new boy" (as he was known to Mr. Graham's previous patients) moved to the Heaton practice from his previous practice in Killingworth which was set up in 1977.

John Davidson and Jan Querido met in 1994. at John's final qualifying examinations in Manchester, where Jan sat as an examiner for John's spectacle dispensing examination. Their instant rapport & mutual respect helped them to establish a firm friendship.

Mr. Querido employed Julia Davidson in 2002 as a practice manager. Her wealth of management experience helped to refresh the logistical, and service aspects of Mr. Querido's practice, to allow Mr. Querido to focus on the clinical issues of the business. Julia has attended numerous courses and seminars over the years to develop her skills as a dispenser, clinical assistant, and business manager.

Julia and John Davidson (husband and wife) have worked as a team since 1996. They have held numerous management roles together over the last 10 years. They subsequently took over the practice in December 2002, retaining Mr. Querido as a consultant on a part time basis until his retirement in December 2005.

The practice was awarded a prestigious national award from Optician magazine as "contact lenses practice of the year" in May 2006. This award was in recognition of clinical experience, innovation, & business growth.

In 2010 we undertook major renovation and building work in what was the final stage of the business transformation. The impact has been profound both from a business perspective but also in terms of customer experience and satisfaction.

In 2012 we incorporated the Gosforth Eye Company into our practice, bringing together two practices under one roof with larger premises and better facilities for our clients

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Eye Tests

Newcastle Opticians

Is your current eyecare provider giving you the service that you expect? ...or is he or she just too rushed or disinterested? Then move on & join us at Querido & Davidson.

We are a national award winning eyecare practice (established in 1956) with a long heritage of providing exemplary service and exceptional products.

Eye Tests & Examinations

Our Optometrists carry out a huge array of checks during to your eye examination. These can include testing your eye pressure (to detect glaucoma - which, if undetected, could lead to blindness), checking sideways field of vision and the health of the back of your eye.

All these checks are quick and painless, and will provide us with important information that will help monitor any slight changes over time.

Contact Lenses

We fit a huge variety of contact lenses types to patients across the whole of the UK. We supply lenses to people of all ages, & all prescription types. Using corneal topography and slit lamp image capture we provide the highest standard of care to all our contact lenses wearing patients.

We specialise in iGo OVC, Ortho-K and Paragon CRT Orthokeratology work for all ages from 6 upwards. We are an accredited Chromagen contact lens practice. We supply varifocal contact lenses and contact lenses to correct astigmatism. We can also supply theatrical contact lenses for television productions.

In 2006 we were awarded the title of Contact lens practice of the year at the UK Optician awards.

Keratoconus Eye Care

We are a keratoconus friendly practice, and are experienced in the following keratoconus management methods:

Spectacles
Soft contact lenses, including Ultravision Kerasoft and Acuity Soft K
Gas permeable contact lenses, including Rose K, So2Clear and Lensdynamics Dyna Z intralimbal
Scleral contact lenses, including Innovative Sclerals

Finding Querido & Davidison:

We are located at:
196 Chillingham Road
Heaton
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE6 5LN
0191 265 9898