The site is the former Dunston Power Station, next to the River Tyne in the Dunston area of Gateshead. The land cost a hundred thousand pounds in the early 1970s. The construction was financed by the Church Commissioners of England and masterminded by Sir John Hall's company Cameron Hall Developments, with help from an urban development grant. The first phase, the Red Mall, opened in April 1986 with a Carrefour supermarket as its anchor and the first out-of-town branch of Marks & Spencer in the country. The Green Mall followed on 14 October 1986 at the official opening. By 1987 the Blue and Yellow Malls had opened and a UCI cinema with them. In August 1987 British Rail opened MetroCentre railway station, connected to the mall by a covered footbridge. A shopping centre had become a place on the map.

In February 1988 Metroland opened at a cost of twenty million pounds, an entirely enclosed amusement park inside the Yellow Mall with a roller coaster, a Ferris wheel, a pirate ship, waltzers, a miniature railway and dodgem cars. For two decades it was Europe's largest indoor amusement park. There was also a Roman Forum-themed area with classical pillars, and by 1989 a Mediterranean Village theme had joined it, alongside a 350-bay coach park for the buses that arrived from across northern England. Metroland closed on the weekend of 19 and 20 April 2008, holding a Last Ride Weekend at five pounds for unlimited rides. The space was redeveloped into the Qube, the centre's current entertainment quarter, with an IMAX-equipped Odeon that became the first IMAX Digital cinema in the north-east when it opened in 2010.

Shopping centres do not stand still. In October 1995 the Church Commissioners sold the centre to Transatlantic Insurance for 364 million pounds while keeping a ten percent stake. That buyer eventually became Intu Properties, which rebranded the place as intu Metrocentre in 2013, then collapsed in 2020. Sovereign Centros took over management on behalf of the Metrocentre Partnership, which still includes the Church Commissioners and GIC Real Estate. Along the way Next absorbed twelve units and the old BHS to create one of the largest Next stores in the country in 2018. Treetop Golf opened two 18-hole mini-courses in the upper Qube in late 2023. Everlast Gyms moved into the top floor of the former Debenhams in November 2023, fitting the UK's largest hybrid gym into 40,000 square feet, complete with a full-size boxing ring. The five colour-coded malls, Red, Green, Blue, Yellow and Platinum, still organise the place. The ten thousand parking spaces still fill up at Christmas.

Coordinates 54.96 N, 1.67 W on the south bank of the Tyne in Dunston, Gateshead. Recommended viewing altitude 2,000 to 4,000 feet. The complex is an enormous low-rise mass beside the A1 Western Bypass with a glass-and-zinc-clad Qube section distinguishable from the older malls. The River Tyne curves immediately north and east. Nearest ICAO airport Newcastle International (EGNT) is 5 nautical miles north-west. Durham Tees Valley (EGNV) lies 23 nautical miles south.