Gosforth Park is a park north of

Gosforth Gosforth is an area of Newcastle upon Tyne, England, situated north of the Newcastle City Centre, City Centre. It constituted a separate Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland), urban district of Northumberland from 1895 until 1974 before of ...

in the city of

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

, England. It houses

Newcastle Racecourse Newcastle Racecourse is a horse racing course located at Gosforth Park in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, owned by Arena Racing Company. It stages both Flat racing, flat and National Hunt racing, with its biggest meeting being the Northumberland ...

, Virgin Money Unity Arena, a

Britannia The image of Britannia () is the national personification of United Kingdom, Britain as a helmeted female warrior holding a trident and shield. An image first used by the Romans in classical antiquity, the Latin was the name variously appli ...

hotel, two golf courses, a garden centre and a football centre. It is also home to Gosforth Nature Reserve, a private

SSSI A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

managed by the

Natural History Society of Northumbria The Natural History Society of Northumbria (NHSN) is a voluntary organization to promote the study of natural history and protect the wildlife of North East England. Its offices and library are in the Great North Museum: Hancock, whose buildin ...

, consisting of a lake and woodland. The park was laid out by Charles Brandling (1733–1802), a wealthy coal-mine owner and local politician, to adorn his new mansion, Gosforth House (now Brandling House, the racecourse hospitality and conference centre), built 1755–64. Up to the 1950s tramcars came into the park on race days through a special gate from what was then the A1 Great North Road. Between 2016 and 2019 the two walled gardens and icehouse at Gosforth Park were the subject of archaeological investigations by AAG Archaeology, prior to the gardens having houses built within them.

Hotel

The Gosforth Park Hotel, now in the

Britannia Hotels Britannia Hotels is a British budget hotel group with 64 hotels in Great Britain. The company also owns the Pontins Holiday Parks. Since 2010 Britannia Hotels has been a subject of criticism over the hygiene and maintenance of its locations; co ...

chain, was originally built in 1965 and opened by the

Duke of Northumberland Duke of Northumberland is a noble title that has been created three times in English and British history, twice in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of Great Britain. The current holder of this title is Ralph Percy, 12th Duke of N ...

, and by 1986 was owned by

Scottish & Newcastle Scottish & Newcastle plc was a brewing company headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland, which expanded from its home base to become an international business with beer volumes growing almost tenfold. The company was listed on the London Stock Exc ...

and run by

Thistle Hotels Thistle Hotels, a subsidiary of the Clermont Hotel Group, is a UK-based hotel company with a portfolio of 8 Central London hotels, one at London Heathrow and one in nerby Bedfordshire, operating in the Star (classification), three and four star ...

. Between being in the Thistle and Britannia portfolios it had been operated as a Marriott.

Virgin Money Unity Arena

Virgin Money Unity Arena is the UK's first purpose built socially distanced outdoor entertainment venue constructed in the grounds of Gosforth Park. During 2020 the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

caused all concert and stand-up comedy events in the country to be cancelled. As the country came out of lockdown a number of efforts were made to re-start entertainment events including some drive-in venues. The temporary outdoor venue site is and consists of 500 viewing spaces. Each socially distanced viewing space can occupy up to 5 people bringing the maximum capacity of the venue to 2500. The first two concerts on 11 and 13 August by

North Tyneside North Tyneside is a metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It forms part of the greater Tyneside conurbation. North Tyneside Council is headquartered at Cobalt Park, Wallsend. North Tyneside is bordered by Ne ...

singer

Sam Fender Samuel Thomas Fender (born 25 April 1994) is an English singer, songwriter, and musician. Born and raised in North Shields (near Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle), Fender discovered his passion for music during his teenage years and released sev ...

sold out in minutes. The venue is operated by SSD Concerts and Engine No.4. The event's title sponsor is the

Virgin Money Virgin Money may refer to: * Virgin Money (brand), a financial services brand owned by Virgin Group * Virgin Money UK, a British banking and financial services company owned by Nationwide Building Society Nationwide Building Society is a Bri ...

bank who have their headquarters in the nearby

Regent Centre Regent Centre is a large business park and residential complex in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne, England. The business park is home to a variety of companies, including banking group Virgin Money UK, Virgin Money whose Head Office is located on t ...

business park.

References

External links

Virgin Money Unity Arena
Parks and open spaces in Newcastle upon Tyne {{TyneandWear-geo-stub