Newcastle upon Tyne

Newcastle upon Tyne, often shortened to Newcastle, is a city in the county of Tyne and Wear in North East England. It is also a unitary authority with a population of around 259,000 (2001 census). 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. Newcastle is the main city in North East England, and around the 14th largest city in England. As such, it is one of England's core cities.

Architecture and urban development

The city has an extensive neoclassical centre, largely developed in the 1830s by Richard Grainger and John Dobson, and recently extensively restored. Grey Street, which curves down from a monument to the parliamentary reformer Earl Grey towards the valley of the River Tyne, has a claim to be one of England's most beautiful urban streets. A large portion of Grainger Town was demolished in the 1960s to make way for the Eldon Square shopping centre.

Related Topics:
1830s - Richard Grainger - John Dobson - Parliamentary reformer - Earl Grey - River Tyne - Grainger Town - 1960s - Eldon Square - Shopping centre

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Immediately to the northwest of the city centre is Leazes Park, a 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", and in one corner of which is St James' Park, the stadium home of Newcastle United F.C. which dominates the view of the city from the south.

Related Topics:
Leazes Park - 1873 - St James' Park - Newcastle United F.C.

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Another green space in Newcastle is the vast Town Moor, lying immediately north of the city centre. The hereditary freemen of the city have held the right to graze cattle on the Town Moor since the Middle Ages — a reward for defending the town against the marauding Scots!

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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 and Heaton Park to the Ouseburn Valley, where the 'burn finally reaches the River Tyne.

Related Topics:
Jesmond Dene - Armstrong Park - Heaton Park - Ouseburn Valley - River Tyne

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The development of the city in the 1960s and 1970s was marred by a corruption scandal involving, especially, T. Dan Smith, a local politician and John Poulson, a property developer. Echoes of the scandal were revisited in the late 1990s in the BBC TV mini-series, Our Friends in the North.

Related Topics:
1960s - 1970s - T. Dan Smith - John Poulson - 1990s - BBC - Our Friends in the North

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The Tyne itself passes through a gorge between Newcastle (on the North Bank) and Gateshead (the administratively separate Borough and urban area south of the river), which is famous for a series of dramatic and notable bridges such as the Tyne Bridge and High Level Bridge shared by Newcastle and Gateshead. Large scale regeneration of the Tyne Gorge has replaced former shipping industries 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 The Sage Gateshead music centre. As a tourist promotion, Newcastle and Gateshead have linked together under the banner NewcastleGateshead but both remain separate for other purposes.

Related Topics:
Gateshead - Tyne Bridge - High Level Bridge - Regeneration - Gateshead Millennium Bridge - BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art - Norman Foster - The Sage Gateshead

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Newcastle's thriving Chinatown, which grew from a small nucleus of Chinese establishments in the 1980's lies in the northwest of Grainger Town, centered on Stowell Street. A new Chinese Arch providing a landmark entrance was handed over to the City with a ceremony in 2005.

Related Topics:
Chinatown - Grainger Town

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The UK's first Biotechnology Village, the "Centre for Life" is located in the City Centre.

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