See Opticians has held the Fulwell corner of Station Road since 2009. Paul Lewis Blackburn and Tracey Blackburn opened the practice that February and have been at the chair every day since. Sixteen years of NHS sight tests, varifocal fittings the chains tend to rush, and the only optician on this stretch that will glaze a prescription written somewhere else without quietly upselling you into a fresh test.
NHS England sight tests, the varifocals the chains rush, contact lenses for full-time wear and occasional, and a measured programme for children whose prescription is moving year on year. Everything starts with a thirty-minute test and ends with a written prescription that travels.
Free NHS sight tests for everyone the England GOS rules cover (under-16s, students aged 16-18, anyone over 60, low-income benefits, diabetes, glaucoma family history, registered sight loss). Private examinations run the same equipment with longer chair time and a written prescription you can take anywhere. Retinal imaging is included as standard rather than offered as a paid extra.
Sixteen years of fitting varifocals on the same patients across decades of prescription drift means we know which lens designs hold up at reading distance and which fail at the dashboard. Monocular pupillary distances, near-PDs, fitting heights, optical centre verification, frame-by-frame dispense. If you have been given varifocals that did not work, bring them in and we will tell you why.
Full assessment of corneal health and tear film before the first lens goes in. Daily disposables for occasional wear, monthlies for full-time, multifocal and toric options for prescriptions that complicate things. Aftercare is included in the monthly direct debit. First-time wearers get a sit-down session on handling, hygiene and the small habits that prevent infection.
For children whose short-sightedness is progressing measurably between annual tests, we discuss the three evidence-led options: CooperVision MiSight 1-day soft contact lenses, Hoya MiYOSMART spectacle lenses and low-dose atropine eye drops on private prescription. The aim is to slow axial elongation, not just to get this year's prescription right.
See Optical Company LLP was incorporated on 25 February 2009 with Paul and Tracey as designated members. They have not stepped off the register once in sixteen years. The original partnership included Alison and John Little; they retired on 31 August 2025 and the Blackburns continue as sole owners, the way the practice opened. The shopfront has not moved off 9 Station Road. The wordmark has not changed. The orange has not changed. That is the asset.
Patients come back with the same frame, three prescriptions later, and we still have the dispensing notes from the first fit. That is what sixteen years on one street buys you.
Paul Lewis Blackburn · owner, See Opticians
A varifocal lens is the most misunderstood object in a dispensary. The corridor (the strip down the lens where the prescription transitions from distance to reading) only works if three measurements are right: the monocular pupillary distance for each eye separately, the fitting height referenced to the chosen frame, and the optical centre verified after glazing. Most rushed dispenses skip the per-eye PD and use a single average instead. The patient then reads with one eye through the corridor and the other through the periphery, and complains that the lens "swims" or that the right side is blurry at the keyboard. We measure all three, every time, and we keep the dispensing notes on file so the next pair starts from real numbers.
We answer email between 09:00 and 17:30 Tuesday through Saturday. If you would rather book a private exam, ask whether your NHS test is due, drop off a prescription for glazing, or sort out a varifocal that has never sat right, this form gets you in front of Paul or Tracey directly. Phone bookings on 0191 549 9998 are still the fastest route on a Saturday morning.
What happens next
Five minutes from Roker beach, three minutes from Fulwell Metro, and a short walk from the Sea Road shopping parade. Free customer parking at the front of the shop, useful since the old Sainsbury\'s at the top of Station Road closed in October 2021. The Fulwell Community Library, the GP clinic and two dental surgeries are on the same stretch.
Mined from sixteen years of phone calls, Google reviews and front-desk conversations on Station Road.
Yes if you are under 16, or 16-18 in full-time education, or over 60, or on Income Support, Pension Credit, income-based Jobseeker's Allowance, income-related Employment and Support Allowance, or income-based Universal Credit. Also yes if you have diabetes or glaucoma, are a first-degree relative of a glaucoma patient and over 40, or are registered partially sighted or blind. NHS England rules, valid across the country.
Yes. That is what the strap-line on the shopfront ("Prescriptions From All Opticians Welcome") means. Bring the written prescription, pick a frame from the dispensary, and we glaze it to your numbers. No re-test demanded, no quiet upsell into a fresh sight test.
Usually one of three things: a fitting height set wrong (the corridor sits above or below where your eyes settle naturally), an interpupillary distance taken in millimetres but applied to the wrong eye, or a lens design that is not matched to your frame depth. We measure all three properly and we keep the dispensing notes so the next pair can be made from the same data.
For progressing myopia in children we discuss three options: CooperVision MiSight 1-day soft contact lenses (worn during the day), Hoya MiYOSMART spectacle lenses (worn as normal glasses), and low-dose atropine eye drops on private prescription. Each has trial data behind it. The aim is to slow how quickly the eye grows, not just to get a sharper this-year prescription.
Free customer parking at the front of 9 Station Road, no time limit during your appointment. Useful since the old Sainsbury's car park at the top of Station Road closed in 2021.
Yes. We open Tuesday to Saturday, 09:00 to 17:30. Closed Sundays and Mondays. The Saturday slot is the most popular and books out two to three weeks ahead.