Gosforth: Postcode NE3 1AD
Where is it? Bing map|| Neighbourhood summary
Geograph grid refs NZ2467 NZ2468 NZ2470
Bus Stop, High Street, Gosforth.
© Copyright wfmillar and licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence.
Historical development
Until 1988 Gosforth High Street was the main A1 north-south route. The western bypass, now renamed the A1, cuts the Gosforth and Fawdon parts of NE3 from Kingston Park, which lies to the west of the A1. Gosforth is generally thought to be a relatively upmarket residential area with its core housing dating from before 1914 as shown in the three images below. The wider area of Gosforth includes a range of housing types and tenures including local authority built homes and some flats.
The Great North Road from London to Edinburgh passed along Gosforth High Street and the street still has hotels and inns dating from the coaching era. Although a suburb of Newcastle from Victorian times, Gosforth was actually quite a large separate urban district in Northumberland with its own town hall. Gosforth only became officially part of the City of Newcastle in 1974 following local government reorganisation. Gosforth schools have a different structure to most of the rest of the city with a first, middle and senior schools inherited from the pre-1974 era.
View from Gosforth Central Park.
Semi-detached houses next to Gosforth Central Park (Moor Road North).
Harley Terrace, Gosforth. Photo © Copyright Mike Quinn and licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence.
Gosforth Garden Village was laid out in the early 1920s and built 266 houses by 1928; it remains a distinctive area with a strong community focus. It was developed by a charity linked to the LNER railway company and intended for past and present railway employees. The society was wound up in 1959, but the residents’ association survives.
- Gosforth Garden Village Association http://ggva.org.uk/
There have been waves of residential development in and around Gosforth at different periods (e.g. 1920s Garden Village, 1930s-50s Brunton Park, 1960s Melton Park with later infilling after 2000, 1980s Whitebridge Park). Not all of the development has been private (e.g. much of the post Second World War Grange estate was council-built for rent, although many houses have been bought by tenants under right-to-buy legislation).
Melton Park (2005). Photo © Copyright C G Burke and licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence.
Pressure for development
Gosforth is a popular affluent area with good local amenities, a reputation for good state schools and is relatively close to the city centre. This means developers are always looking for opportunities. For example, in Spring 2003 Barratt started building ‘The Wickets’ on a strip of parkland at South Northumberland cricket ground. The development of 18 two-bed luxury apartments with private parking and 18 three-storey townhouses with garages is adjacent to Moor Road. The properties ranged in price from £242,000 to £385,000 (June 2003).
Gosforth is an upmarket area of Newcastle and there is a high level of demand for all types of homes. Greenfield sites like Whitebridge Park were carpeted by executive villas in the late 1980s, but there are few if any large sites left. Developers have responded to this by seeking smaller plots or brownfield sites to build new flats and houses. The Wickets is one example (and it may have helped pay for the new cricket centre). In other parts of Gosforth new flats have been built on the old Territorial Army premises, former government offices and the on the site of what had been the local police station. A similar fate has befallen the vacated, and more extensive, Proctor and Gamble headquarters which has been redeveloped as Grove Park with many of the new homes sold for over £500,000.
- Gosforth Life http://www.gosforthlife.co.uk/main.htm
- Gosforth Academy http://www.ga.newcastle.sch.uk/
- Gosforth Central Middle School http://www.gosforthcent.newcastle.sch.uk/page/?title=Home&pid=1
