Longbenton
Longbenton is a district of North Tyneside, England. It is largely occupied by an extensive estate originally built as municipal housing by Newcastle City Council in the 1950s and 1960s. It is served by the Tyne and Wear Metro stations Longbenton Metro station and Four Lane Ends Metro Station. Nearby places are Killingworth, Forest Hall, Four Lane Ends, West Moor, Heaton and South Gosforth, in Newcastle upon Tyne. The Longbenton and Killingworth Urban Area had a population of 34,878 in 2001. This figure increased to 37,070 in 2011.
Education
Two secondary schools are located in the township, Longbenton Community College and St Mary's Catholic Comprehensive School, along with four primary schools. The four primary schools are Benton Dene Primary School, Balliol Primary School, St Bartholomew's, and St. Stephen's Primary School.Nurseries offering childcare in Longbenton include Leigh's Nurseries.
Longbenton Football Club are an FA-affiliated team and as of 2012/13 season play in the Northern Alliance Division 2. Their home ground is situated behind the Oxford Centre.
Demography
Longbenton had a population of 10,617 in 2011. The figure is given as a ward because the Longbenton Urban Subdivision also encompasses its larger neighbour, Killingworth as well as parts of neighbouring areas.| Ethnic Groups 2011 | Longbenton ward | Metropolitan Borough of North Tyneside |
| White British | 92.6% | 95.1% |
| Asian | 3.5% | 1.9% |
| Black | 0.7% | 0.4% |
Possibly due to the fact it borders Newcastle, Longbenton is one of the most ethnically diverse areas in North Tyneside.
Churches
Longbenton is served by on West Farm Ave, at one end of Chesters Ave and at the other end of Chesters Ave.The parish church is St Bartholomew's Church, Long Benton.
Business
Longbenton is the site of BT's Newcastle call centre. Balliol Business Park is located in Longbenton where a Greggs production site and, until recently, two large Sitel call centres were located. The UK production site for the Findus frozen food brand was based in Longbenton until mid-January 2009 when, through cost-cutting and fire damage, the factory was closed, with the loss of around 400 jobs. Following the award of a grant from Regional development agency One North East the factory was repaired and reopened as Longbenton Foods in 2010. Countrystyle foods took over the site in 2012 and now has roughly 200 staff working there.Notable residents
Footballer Peter Beardsley grew up in Longbenton and attended Longbenton High School.Thomas Addison, 19th-century physician and scientist and discoverer of, among others, Addison's disease and Pernicious anaemia was born and educated in Longbenton. He is widely regarded as one of the leading lights of 19th-century medicine, and was famous for his brilliant lecturing style, compassion and empathy for patients and devotion to furthering medical science. He has a bust in his old place of work, Guy's Hospital, London, and a window in his memory in St Bartholomew's parish church.
Writer and poet Michael Roberts lived nearby in Jesmond in the 1930s, and he included Longbenton in his poem Hymn to the Sun.