North East England news

Team Valley is traditionally the heavy industrial area of Gateshead in Tyne and Wear, England. More recently it has become home to ‘Retail World’, basically a retail park, however this makes up just a small percentage of the entirety of the Team Valley Trading Estate.

Many large international companies are based in the trading estate and it is rapidly developing as a business park rather than the heavily industrialised area it used to be. There are currently approximately 1400 companies on the estate.

Each day, approximately 25,000 people travel to Team Valley.In the 1930s the Government decided to spend nearly £2m on this part of Gateshead establishing the Team Valley Trading Estate as a well-planned industrial environment.This initiative resulted in a landscaped estate intended for 15,000 workers.

It included a central headquarters, now used by English Partnerships, a bank, a post office and, some modestly scaled industrial buildings as well as some smaller industrial units for start-up ventures.These facilities were laid out along a wide central artery, known as ‘Kingsway’, almost two miles long.

The construction, which was undertaken by Wimpey Construction, took several years and was completed in 1938. Many of the older residents of Gateshead were involved in the building of the original team valley.The southern end used to be the location of the National Coal Board’s regional headquarters but after the closure of the mines in the area this was replaced by a Safeway supermarket which is now owned by Sainsbury’s.

The connection remains today in that the junction with the A1 is often referred to as the coal house roundabout.The River Team runs directly through the centre of the trading estate, hidden in a culvert.Recently developments at the north end of the trading estate have seen a new hotel, shops, offices and a Regus virtual office building being built.Although the Team Valley Trading Estate predates the road by several decades, it is now bordered on the West by the A1 road, and has two junctions at both the north and south ends. A dual carriageway runs the length of the trading estate between the two A1 road junctions. The worsening congestion and the lack of scope for improving the A1 has led to the Highways Agency using the provisions of Article 14 of the Town and Country Planning (General Development Procedure) Order 1995 to restrict additional development taking place on Team Valley.

The North East Chamber of Commerce and two local newspapers (The Journal and Evening Chronicle) have launched a campaign against these restrictions, entitled “Go for Jobs”.

To the East it is bordered by the East Coast Main Line which is the main railway between London and Edinburgh via Newcastle. Many years ago there was a station situated in Team Valley however this has long since closed and the nearest station on the East Coast Main Line is now Central Station in Newcastle upon Tyne.

North East England

St James’ Park is an all-seater stadium in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, United Kingdom. It is the home of Newcastle United Football Club, and the oldest football stadium in the North East of England.

The stadium has a football spectator capacity of 52,387, making it the third largest Premier League stadium, and seventh largest football stadium in the United Kingdom.

Located in the centre of Newcastle, its white cantilever roof is visible across the city, and is the largest cantilever in Europe.

Occupied by the Toon Army fan-base in the Milburn Stand, the East Stand, the Leazes End and the Gallowgate End, the ground has been the home ground of Premier League club Newcastle United since 1892, and been used for football since 1880.

Throughout its history, the desire for expansion has caused conflict with local residents and the local council. This has led to proposals to move at least twice in the late 1960s, and a controversial 1995 proposed move to nearby Leazes Park. Reluctance to move has led to the distinctive lop-sided appearance of the present day stadium, due to asymmetrical stands.

Besides club football, St James’ Park has also been used for international football, and will be used as a football venue for the 2012 Olympics.

In addition to professional football, the stadium has hosted charity football events, rock concerts, and been used as a film set and for reality television shows.

The site of St James’ Park was originally a patch of sloping grazing land, bordered by Georgian Leazes Terrace, and near the historic Town Moor, owned by the Freemen of the City, both factors that later affected development of the ground, with the local council being the landlord of the site. Leazes Terrace was built c1830 by notable Newcastle residents, architect Thomas Oliver and builder Richard Grainger. Once the residence of high society in Newcastle, it is now a Grade 1 listed building, and, recently refurbished, is currently being used as self-catering postgraduate student accommodation by Newcastle University. The site was also near the gallows of the city, last used in 1844, lending name to the Gallowgate End.

The stadium was first used by Newcastle United in 1892 after the unification of Newcastle East End and Newcastle West End, although football had been played there since 1880. Local residents opposition to football being played at St James’ dated back to the first games in the Football League following the building of the first small stand at the Gallowgate End. A redeveloped Gallowgate and further stands followed in 1899, bringing the first official capacity to 30,000 (standing).

While the stadium is now synonymous with the Black and Whites, Newcastle United actually played in red and white at St James’ Park until 1904. In 1905, a doubling of capacity to 60,000, with a main stand on the Barrack Road (now Milburn Stand), and major other stands, produced a state of the art facility, even boasting a swimming pool.

The current owner of Newcastle United has sold the naming rights of the stadium to a company that he part owns, so now the name of the stadium is Sports Direct @ James Park, next season it is hoped that a bigger company will come in and purchase the rights.

North East England

Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear.

Situated on the north bank of the River Tyne, the city owes its name to the Norman castle built in 1080, by Robert II of Normandy, the eldest son of William the Conqueror.

The area around Newcastle was historically a Roman settlement.

The medieval Latin name is Novum Castrum super Tynumm, a literal translation.

The city grew as an important centre for the wool trade and it later became a major coal mining area which continued into the late 20th century.

The port developed in the 16th century and, along with the shipyards lower down the river, was amongst the world’s largest shipbuilding and ship-repairing centres. The Swan Hunters shipyard was only recently shutdown and disbanded, it was once a major employer in the Newcastle area.

These basic industries have now gone and the city is largely an administrative and cultural centre with two universities – Newcastle and Northumbria, and also a large Government buildings centre at Longbenton.

Newcastle airport is the 10th largets airport in the UK, which speaks volumes about Newcastle upon Tyne as a whole.

Nightlife in Newcastle is second to none, thousands visit the area each week on stag & hen parties to the Bigg Market & Quayside.

There are several major shopping areas in Newcastle city centre.

The largest of these is the Eldon Square Shopping Centre, which incorporates the first and largest Fenwick department store, and a John Lewis store, also known as Bainbridges, which is often cited as the first department store in the world.

Eldon Square is currently undergoing a full redevelopment. A new bus station, replacing the old underground bus station, was officially opened in March 2007.

The wing of the centre, including the undercover Green Market, near Grainger Street was demolished in 2007 so that the area can be redeveloped.

The main shopping street in the city is Northumberland Street. In a 2004 report, it was ranked as the most expensive shopping street in the UK for rent, outside of London. Other shopping centres in Newcastle include the relatively modern Eldon Garden and Monument Mall complexes, the Newgate Centre, Central Arcade and the traditional Grainger Market.

Outside the city, the largest suburban shopping areas are Gosforth and Byker. The largest indoor shopping centre in Europe, the MetroCentre, is located in Gateshead. The largest Tesco store in the United Kingdom is located in Kingston Park on the edge of Newcastle.

Famous people born in the city include

Cardinal Basil Hume, Archbishop of Westminster (1976-1999) was born in the city in 1923.

Other notable people born in or associated with Newcastle include: engineer and industrialist Lord Armstrong, engineer Robert Stephenson, Lord Taylor, Eça de Queiróz, singers Sting, Cheryl Cole and Neil Tennant, entertainers Ant and Dec, and international footballers Peter Beardsley and Alan Shearer

North East England

The Roman Wall originally was built to finish at Pons Aelius which is now Newcastle. Work began in 122AD and proceeded towards the west. It was then decided that the Wall should be extended further east, experts believe this was done to protect the river crossing at Pons Aelius. Around 127AD, work was begun on a further 4 mile section of the Wall east from the fort at Pons Aelius, passing through what is now known as Byker and ending at the new fort of Segedunum in Wallsend.

Segedunum is of Celtic origin and signifies a hill of some kind. The fort measured 453ft from north to south and 393ft from eats to west, covering and area of 4.1 acres.

Experts believe there may have been a village surrounding the fort, including the area to the north of the wall as evidence has been found to support this theory.

The fort was abandoned around 400AD, for centuries the whole area was open farmland and in the 1700′s the area over time became a Pit village. Around 1884, the whole fort of Segendum was buried under housing.

In the 1970′s the houses on the site were demolished, excavation started and the stie was reconstructed in the beginning of the 1990s.

North East England