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 Looking through Newcastle's bridges
Looking through Newcastle's bridges
 Jesmond Dene ca. 1900.
Jesmond Dene ca. 1900.
 View of the Millennium Bridge at night from the Newcastle side
View of the Millennium Bridge at night from the Newcastle side
 Chinatown Arch and St. James' Park
Chinatown Arch and St. James' Park
Notable architecture
The city has an extensive Richard Grainger and Grainger Town was demolished in the 1960s to make way for the Eldon Square shopping centre.
Parks and open space
Immediately to the northwest of the city centre is Leazes Park, established in 1873 after a petition by 3,000 working men of the city for "ready access to some open ground for the purpose of health and recreation". In one corner of this is St James' Park, the stadium home of Newcastle United F.C. which dominates the view of the city from the south.
Another green space in Newcastle is the vast Town Moor, lying immediately north of the city centre. It is larger than Hyde Park and Hampstead Heath put together and the freemen of the city have the right to graze cattle on it. Honorary freemen include Bob Geldof, Nelson Mandela and the Royal Shakespeare Company. The Hoppings funfair, said to be the largest travelling fair in Europe, is held here annually in June.
The wooded gorge of the Ouseburn in the east of the city is known as Jesmond Dene and forms another popular recreation area, linked with Armstrong Park, Heaton Park, to the Ouseburn Valley, where the burn finally reaches the River Tyne.
Recent developments
The development of the city in the 1960s and 1970s saw the demoliton of part of Graingertown as a prelude to the modernist rebuilding initiatives of T. Dan Smith, the leader of Newcastle City Council. A corruption scandal was uncovered involving Smith and John Poulson, a property developer, and both were jailed. Echoes of the scandal were revisited in the late 1990s in the BBC TV mini-series, Our Friends in the North.
The Tyne gorge between Newcastle (on the north Bank) and Gateshead (an administratively separate borough) on the south, is famous for a series of dramatic bridges, including the Tyne Bridge of 1928 and Robert Stephenson's High Level Bridge of 1849, the first road/rail bridge in the world. Large-scale regeneration has replaced former shipping premises with imposing new office developments; an innovative tilting bridge, the Gateshead Millennium Bridge was commissioned by Gateshead and has integrated the older Newcastle Quayside more closely with major cultural developments in Gateshead, including the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art and the Norman Foster-designed Sage music centre. As a tourist promotion, Newcastle and Gateshead have linked together under the banner "NewcastleGateshead", but otherwise remain separate.
Notable Newcastle housing developments include Ralph Erskine's the Byker Wall designed in the 1960s and now Grade II-listed. It is on UNESCO's list of outstanding 20th century buildings.
Newcastle's thriving Grainger Town, centered on Stowell Street. A new Chinese Arch, or paifang, providing a landmark entrance, was handed over to the City with a ceremony in 2005.
Science city
The UK's first Biotechnology Village, the "Centre for Life" is located in the City Centre close to the Central Station. The village is the first step in the City Council's plans to transform Newcastle into a Science city [2].
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Population
According to the UK Government's 2001 census [3], the unitary authority of Newcastle has a population of around 259,500. However, the metropolitan boroughs of North Tyneside (population c.190,000), South Tyneside (population c. 150,000) and Gateshead (population c.200,000) are also part of Newcastle's conurbation, giving the Newcastle-Gateshead metropolitan area a population of 799,000. According to the same statistics, the average age of people living in Newcastle is 37.8 (the national average being 38.6). 93.1% of the population are of White ethnic background (the national average being 91.3%). Other ethnic groups in Newcastle, in order of population size, are Pakistani at 1.9% and Indian at 1.2%.
Religion
The city is largely Christian at 70.6%, with Islam (3.6%) the only other significantly practised religion. A large number (16%) have no religion.
Christianity
Newcastle has two Newcastle upon Tyne">St. Nicholas, with its elegant lantern tower of 1474, and the Roman Catholic Newcastle upon Tyne">St. Mary's, designed by Pugin. Cardinal Basil Hume was born in the city in 1923. A statue (unveiled by the Queen), stands near St Mary's.
Judaism
Main article: Newcastle upon Tyne">Judaism in Newcastle upon Tyne
No records exist of Newcastle Courant published a headline in Hebrew.
Sir Israel Brodie, the first Chief Rabbi to be knighted, was born in Newcastle in 1895. With a declining population in other parts of the town, a new purpose-built Community Centre and Synagogue was built in Gosforth at Culzean Park in an area in which the majority of Jews resided. A new Reform movement Synagogue was built in 1986 nearby and continues to flourish.
Health
Of the population, 11.8% described themselves as "not healthy" in the 12 months before the 2001 census, compared to a national average of 9.2%. Additionally, 21.6% of the inhabitants said they had a long-term illness, as against 18.2% nationally.
Newcastle Hospitals Trust One has one of the lowest mortality rates in the country and is ranked second in the country for confidence in doctors. Staffing levels are high - in the top 70 in England for doctors and the top ten for nurses. Royal Victoria Infirmary, whose organ donor system has been featured on television; the Newcastle General Hospital and the Freeman Hospital, which is Britain's third transplant centre.
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Dialect
Main article: Geordie
The local Geordie dialect is a rich, living dialect that reflects the city's virtues and vices. The Geordie dialect is more than an alternative pronunciation of English. There is a large amount of vocabulary that does not exist in other parts of England, and words often have different meanings. Much of the dialect can be traced back to the Old Norse and Old English languages.
Bars and clubs
Newcastle has a reputation for being a fun-loving city with many bars, restaurants and nightclubs. More recently, Newcastle has become popular as a destination for Stag and Hen parties.
The majority of clubs in Newcastle are located in three main areas. The oldest of these is the Bigg Market, long-established as a favourite haunt for locals, followed by the trendy Quayside area, a spectacular mix of modern and traditional architecture which creates a fantastic backdrop for a sometimes frantic Saturday night. The newest of these areas is "The Gate", which is a new indoor complex consisting of bars, upmarket clubs, restaurants and a 12-screen Odeon multiplex cinema.
Over recent years, the suburb of Jesmond has become a popular drinking area, with a number of bars and restaurants being set up along the area's main artery, Osborne Road. These tend to be popular with the area's students and young professionals.
Theatre
A growth in theatre culture has taken place in recent years, centred on the impressive Tyne Opera House, the Newcastle Playhouse (which is currently undergoing redevelopment), the People's Theatre and the Gulbenkian Studio. There are several other venues in and around Newcastle, such as Newcastle City Hall, Newcastle Arena and The Sage Gateshead.
Shopping
There are several major shopping areas in Newcastle city centre. The largest of these is the Eldon Square shopping centre, which incorporates the largest Fenwick department store in the UK and a John Lewis store, which is often cited as the first department store in the UK.
The main shopping street in the city is Northumberland Street. In a 2004 report, it was ranked as the most expensive shopping road in the UK for rent, outside London. Other shopping centres in Newcastle include the relatively modern Eldon Garden and Monument Mall complexes, the Newgate Centre, Leazes Arcade and the traditional Grainger Market. The largest suburban shopping areas are Gosforth and Byker. The largest indoor shopping centre in Europe, The MetroCentre in Gateshead is also nearby.
Outdoor pursuits
Newcastle Town Moor every June. The event had its origins in the Temperance movement during the early 1880s and coincides with the annual race week at High Gosforth Park.
Media
Television and radio
See also: Newcastle upon Tyne">List of television shows set in Newcastle upon Tyne
ITV franchisee Tyne Tees Television recently moved its headquarters from City Road to a new facility on The Watermark business park next to the MetroCentre in Gateshead. The entrance to the City Road complex gave its name to the 1980s television programme, The Tube.
Independent radio stations include Metro Radio, which is based in a building on the Swan House roundabout on the north side of the Tyne Bridge. Century FM is located in Gateshead, just south of the bridge. Galaxy 105-106 broadcasts across Newcastle from its studios in nearby Wallsend.
Fog on the Tyne" (1971), which was also covered by Geordie ex-footballer Paul Gascoigne in 1990.
Venom, reckoned by many to be the originators of black metal, formed in Newcastle in 1979. The Wildhearts are another band with Newcastle roots.
On October 14, 2005, the 2,000 capacity Carling Academy Newcastle opened, providing a new music venue in the city centre. The opening night was headlined by The Futureheads and the profile of the venue has attracted a greater variety of bands to play in the city. The Carling Academy Newcastle is the newest in a string of Academies to be opened across the UK.
Print
Local newspapers that are printed in Newcastle include Trinity Mirror's Evening Chronicle and The Journal, as well as the Metro freesheet. The Crack is a monthly style and listings magazine similar to London's Time Out. The adult comic Viz originated in Jesmond, Newcastle.
Gay culture
Focused on the Times Square area near the Centre for Life, the "Pink Triangle" hosts approximately 12–14 bars and pubs, and two clubs, Powerhouse and The Loft. The community has seen much expansion in the past five years, with further growth planned in the future. The Pink Triangle was a planned development promoted by the Regional Development Agency.
In 2001 Newcastle planned to host a dance music festival (BBC Radio 1's 'Love Parade 2001') but this was cancelled at the last minute. Radio 1 had set Newcastle City Council a deadline to resolve outstanding issues required by the City's Police. The deadline expired, Newcastle's Labour Council failing to meet the conditions of the Entertainment Licence in time to stage a safe event. The Police had turned down revised plans from the City Council. In the end, the BBC instead put on a dance music event in nearby Whitley Bay.
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