Byker
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Byker is an inner city electoral ward in the city of Newcastle upon Tyne in Tyne and Wear, England. It is in the east of the city, south of the Heaton area and north of St Peter's. Byker Metro station serves the area. The area also contains the Byker Wall estate.
In the 1960s Newcastle City Corporation took the decision to redevelop the Byker area. Originally it was a Victorian working-class area of densely-built terraces. Much of the housing needed major repair and some was considered unfit for human habitation (many lacked bathrooms), yet most residents wanted to stay in Byker, an area close to industry on the riverside. Newcastle council aimed to clear the slums but keep the community.
Architect Ralph Erskine was appointed as the architect in 1969 for the new Byker. The development was run as a "rolling programme" so local people could continue living in the area during the building work. Residents were involved in the design process and it is thought the early success of Byker was as much to do with this as its innovative architecture.
Byker has suffered the kinds of the social problems common to other inner-city urban housing areas, including juvenile crime and vandalism. In parts of Byker turnover of tenancies has been high. Families have moved away - particularly those in employment. Some shops and services have been abandoned and boarded up. In the mid-1990s it has been estimated one in three of Byker's adult inhabitants was unemployed.
New leisure and shopping facilities have been brought to the Shields Road area. There are street wardens operating in Byker to deter vandalism and other low level crime. Education and employment initiatives aim to break the cycle of unemployment. There are also proposals to improve the fabric of the Byker area and the Ouseburn Valley in general.
Byker is the setting of the TV series Byker Grove. However, the series is filmed at The Mitre in the Benwell area in the west end of Newcastle.
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