Fenham
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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 West 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. 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 businesses 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. A private school is also situated in Fenham, Dame Allans on Fowberry Crescent.
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