Fenham

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fenham
Statistics
Population:	22,376
Ordnance Survey
OS grid reference:	NZ220656
Administration
District:	Newcastle upon Tyne
Metropolitan county:	Tyne and Wear
Region:	North East England
Constituent country:	England
Sovereign state:	United Kingdom
Other
Ceremonial county:	Tyne and Wear
Historic county:	Northumberland
Services
Police force:	Northumbria Police
Fire and rescue:	{{{Fire}}}
Ambulance:	North East
Post office and telephone
Post town:	NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE
Postal district:	NE4
Dialling code:	0191
Politics
UK Parliament:	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
European Parliament:	North East England

Fenham is an area of the west end of Newcastle upon Tyne in the United Kingdom. It lies to the west of the city centre, and is bounded on the north and east by a large area of open land known as the Town Moor. To the south lies Benwell, whilst East Denton lies to the west, Blakelaw and Cowgate to the north, and Spital Tongues to the east. The area has an ethnically mixed population, and is also home to a large number of students.

The area covers two wards of Newcastle: Wingrove Ward, and (confusingly) Fenham Ward. At the 2001 Census the overall population was found to be 22,376 of whom 14.4% belonged to an ethnic minority, more than twice the average for Newcastle as a whole. Of persons age 16-74, 52.3% were defined as economically active, compared with 58.5 for the city as a whole.

Fenham grew up as a separate township from Newcastle, lying on the western outskirts of the city. Much of the land originally belonged to religious charitable institutions, and there were covenant restriction on the building of any licensed premises. To this day Fenham lacks any pubs or social clubs, though there are off-licenses and licensed restaurants. In 1904 the area was incorporated and brought within the boundaries of Newcastle.

The BBC Broadcasting Centre on Barrack Road houses Radio Newcastle and Look North. The local school is Westgate Community College on West Road.

Fenham possesses a public library on Fenham Hall Drive. There is also a public swimming pool, since August 2005 run as a community organisation. The pool was shut in 2003, but in 2004 the Liberal Democrats took control of Newcastle City Council from Labour; one of their pledges was to re-open Fenham pool, which was achieved with substantial financial backing from residents of the local community.

Today Fenham is most well known in the local area for its large Asian community with many of the buisnesses in the town being ran by Asians and including several Asian speciality stores such as a Pakistani halal butcher and a Asian jewelry store. The town is also becoming increasingly popular with students and young professionals however unlike other parts of the city experiencing a growth of student numbers relations between locals and the seasonal influx of students are kept civil in large part thanks to the local council.

[edit] External links

• Census results for the wards of Newcastle
• Fenham Pool
• Photographic tour
• St Roberts parish church
• Blakelaw and North Fenham Parish Council