Photographs Of Newcastle: Forest Hall

Forest Hall is an area east of Benton in North Tyneside in the north of England. Forest Hall, called after a long gone palatial residence, is a north eastern suburb of Newcastle, adjacent to but fiercely separate from Killingworth. Until the mid 1960s it was a sleepy village with a railway station on the main line to Edinburgh.

Facilities

There are pubs, social clubs such as Forest Hall Ex-Servicemens institute. There's a shopping centre with a variety of shops, take away food outlets, restaurants, two supermarkets and a Health Centre. Forest Hall has frequent buses through the village centre; Newcastle upon Tyne City centre is approximately 15–20 minutes travel by bus. Benton Metro station is about a half mile from the centre of Forest Hall.

The East Coast Main Line runs through Forest Hall. The old Forest Hall station was closed down in 1958 and subsequently demolished in 1964. A public house, "The Flying Scotsman," was opened on the site of the old railway station in May 1969, named after the Flying Scotsman rail service that uses the route.

At the heart of Forest Hall lies the well frequented Springfield Park which benefits from open spaces, a large play area as well as a Bowling Green and Forest Hall Community Tennis Club.

Schools

Primary schools in the area include Forest Hall Primary School, Ivy Road Primary School, and St Mary's RC Primary School.

For further education there is Longbenton Community College in Benton and George Stephenson High School to the North in Killingworth and St Marys Catholic School to the south west close to South Gosforth.

Churches

Forest Hall has several churches of different denominations: St Bartholomew's Church, Long Benton (C of E), St Andrews Methodist United Reformed Church, St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, and Bethesda Gospel Hall.

Description courtesy of Wikipedia.

30th August 2008

Dame Allan's Junior School, Station Road.

Forest Hall Road.

Ritz Bingo and Social Club, Forest Hall Road.

Opened 9th November 1936 as a cinema. Converted to a Bingo Hall in 1961. Damaged by air raids during the war. Unusual interior layout - seats run at right angles to the road with the screen being on right hand side of building as viewed from Forest Hall Road. This arrangement was adopted to save the housing behind when it was constructed.

Source: Sitelines.