Moorbank Botanic Gardens

The Moorbank Botanic Garden was a university botanical garden in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It occupied a 3 hectares (7.4 acres) site on Claremont Road to the west of the main Newcastle University campus, and was developed in the 1920s. Moorbank was leased from the Freemen of Newcastle until 2013, when the lease was not renewed and gardens were closed.

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Spital Tongues

Spital Tongues is a district of Newcastle upon Tyne, located due north-west of the Newcastle City Centre. Its unusual name is believed to be derived from spital – a corruption of the word hospital, commonly found in British place names (e.g. Spitalfields) - and tongues, meaning outlying pieces of land. North of Spital Tongues is the Town Moor, while Castle Leazes and Leazes Park are to the East.

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Town Moor, Newcastle upon Tyne

The Town Moor is an area of common land in Newcastle upon Tyne in northern England. It covers an area of around 1,000 acres (400 ha), making it larger than Hyde Park and Hampstead Heath combined. It is also larger than New York City's Central Park (843 acres). The Town Moor reaches Spital Tongues and the city centre to the south, Gosforth to the north and Jesmond to the east (where it meets Exhibition Park). Freemen of the city have the right to graze cattle on the Town Moor. The rental income is distributed through the Town Moor Money Charity. The ornithologist and landscape architect John Hancock, after whom the nearby Hancock Museum is named, produced a planned layout for the Town Moor in 1868, which was only partly realised. In 1873 a political demonstration in favour of full male suffrage took place on the moor which attracted 200,000 people, the largest recorded mass gathering to have taken place there. The Hoppings, said to be Europe's largest travelling fun fair, is held on the Town Moor during the last week in June. The area of common land is actually split up into several sections, of which the Town Moor is but the major part. The area is intersected by the A189 road and the section on the other side of the road is known as Nuns Moor, and includes the Newcastle United Golf Club. Also part of Town Moor are Dukes Moor and Little Moor, both at its northern end, Hunters Moor to the west, and Castle Leazes Moor to the south. The moor has recently had a pathway relaid with more street lighting and CCTV. The Town Moor is mentioned in the Maxïmo Park song "The Undercurrents".

The Hoppings

The Hoppings is an annual travelling funfair held on the Town Moor in Newcastle upon Tyne, during the last week in June. It is one of Europe's largest travelling funfairs. In recent years, over the course of the nine days it is held, it regularly attracts around 300,000 visitors.

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BBC Radio Newcastle

BBC Radio Newcastle is the BBC's local radio station serving Newcastle upon Tyne, the neighbouring metropolitan boroughs, Northumberland and north east County Durham. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from BBC studios on Barrack Road, Newcastle upon Tyne. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of 234,000 listeners and a 4.6% share as of March 2025.