SPACE for Gosforth has obtained a copy of Newcastle City Council’s High Street Health Check report for Gosforth High Street from 2023. “Very heavy traffic”, “narrow footpaths” and “not encouraging active travel” are all cited as weaknesses, while “Dominance of cars / through traffic” is listed as one of three threats to the centre.

Amongst the positives were “good balance of local independents and multiple retailers, with Gosforth Shopping Centre as an anchor shopping destination”, “dedicated car parking” and “spending power of catchment area”.

Missing from the analysis is consideration of how customers from in the “catchment area” are likely to travel, especially east and west of Gosforth High Street, which is poorly served by public transport; options to better use the road space – simply saying (incorrectly) there is no space to widen footpaths; and there is no mention of air pollution which still exceeds WHO safe limits.

Also missing is consideration of the needs of families and children who walk or cycle to the many schools close to Gosforth High Street, and what would entice them to use the High Street more often.

In our 2023 blog Gosforth High Street has been designed like a bypass rather than a shopping destination, we set out design priorities should that would help to address the highlighted weaknesses and help Gosforth High Street thrive. –

The full “health check” report from Newcastle City Council is published below. Please let us know what you think by leaving a comment below. 

Gosforth High Street Centre Health Checks Performance – 2023

Centre Name
Gosforth High Street

Centre Status (District or Local)
District

Centre Description (e.g. location in the city, name of ward)
Gosforth Ward/ Fawdon & West Gosforth Ward

Use of the Centre (e.g. offers local food shopping, services, location for employment, cafes/restaurants, leisure uses)
Local and regional shopping and leisure facilities, prominent location for socialising
Numerous cafés/ restaurants, retail services, professional and financial services along the High Street

Multiple retailers
Sainsbury’s & Argos, Boots, Lloyds Bank, Max Spielmann, WHSmith, Jan Forester, Pattison, Betfred, Dawson, Bradley Hall, Wetherspoon Pub, Papa John, Sanderson Young, Savers, Card Factory, Pat Robson, Newcastle Building Society, Greggs, Costa Coffee, Caffe Nero, Hays Travel,Kuoni, Subway, Andrew Craig

Key independents
 Jump (shoe shop), Katherine’s Florists, Baby Grey (café), Adriano’s Café, San Lorenzo (restaurant), Donald Gilberts of Gosforth (butcher), Thorpes of Gosforth (Hardware store), Etto (restaurant), Ahad Tandorri Restaurant, Barca Art Bar, Gosforth Palace (restaurant), Deli Express (café), Café Castaro, Pink Lane Bakery, Compact Eye Clinic, Gosforth Dental Surgery, David Hall Goldsmith (jewellery)

Community Facilities
Gosforth Trinity Church + 1901 Café (community), Gosforth Memorial Medical Centre. 
Library and swimming pool within walking distance of the centre.

Accessibility
Major Movement Corridor, heavy traffic with frequent bus services across many bus stops. 
Tight pedestrian paths and cycle lane, easy wayfinding, limited cycle parking. 
Dedicated car parking at Salters Road, Gosforth Shopping Centre, St Nicholas Avenue and nearby side streets.

Environmental quality
Lack trees/ greenery along the High Street
Decent seating areas with adequate greenery
Limited to no graffiti, no noticeable litter on the floor at time of visit
Adequate public bins

SWOT Analysis

Strengths

• Large District Centre along a traditional high street.
• Major movement corridor, frequent bus services to City Centre, North of Newcastle and Northumberland
• Good variety of retail offers, good proportion of retail services (cafés and restaurants), pubs, convenience and comparison stores and financial services, sustainable footfall, strong walk-in catchment.
• Good balance of local independents and multiple retailers, with Gosforth Shopping Centre as an anchor shopping destination for local residents, which includes a Sainsbury’s food store.
• Easy wayfinding, with clear signages
• Close proximity to good quality public open space at Gosforth Central Park
• Dedicated car parking available
• Two metro stops within walking distance (Regent Centre and South Gosforth)
• Affluent area / spending power of catchment area

Weaknesses

• Very heavy traffic, with narrow footpaths without space to widen, poor pedestrian experience and not encouraging active travel
• Inadequate cycle parking
• Dominated by services uses, including a significant number of estate agents, the centre lacks small independent traders
• High noise levels due to volume of traffic.
• Poor environmental quality
• High rental levels

Opportunities

• Traffic management to improve pedestrian safety and environmental quality
• The decline of physical comparison retail and financial services/ high street bank branches could lead to more opportunities for local independents
• Bus Service Enhancements and better optimising the bus stop locations could enhance bus patronage and reduce car journeys to the centre which often creates congestion
• Better signage/ allocation of alternative routes to divert through traffic away from Gosforth High Street, which would improve the environmental quality, pedestrian safety and bus/  public transport punctuality
• Introducing more green infrastructure to improve the environmental quality

Threats

• Continuing dominance of service uses
• Number of vacant units, particularly former banks, building societies
• Dominance of cars / through traffic