The Knowhere Guide

Best and Worst in Houghton le Spring, Tyne and Wear*

Houghton le Spring, Tyne and Wear Triumphs and Tragedies

Favourite Building

• Houghton treatment works at least it gets rid of some of houghtons shit
• council offices, thats where you get the dole
• The church must be the best building in Houghton-le-Spring but the old Council offices also hold a lot of history from the old Town Council. The old brewery which is now luxury flats.`
• The POST OFFICE: Fuels the local economy by cashing the giros of work-shy sets of bastards and benefit scroungers.
• the hive as they welcome people and the dont condemn people
• The rafters
• The Rafters - now executive flats or something.
• sports complex
• Mautland SQuare: such atmosphere and character
• The Burn - QUALITY! (ahem!)
• The parish church is great. 13th century and big,with a tower.
• If you look hard enough certian interesting architectural gems exist: Houghton church is reasonably good with an original Norman carved lintol above one of the doorways.
• Got to be the church.rectory grounds , the council has spent a lot of money on the Park , back to near what I remember as a kid.
• I would have to say the church,it's the best looked after
• rafters - Burnt down and rebuilt

Demolish It Now Building

• Houghton police station
• all of it with everyone in it
• ymca in herrington burn
• HALL LANE (PLEASE!!!)
• council offices, I'm sick of dole wallers scrounging off Tax.
• Most of Houghton....
• Houghton Kepier School.....with mrs Highland, Moyra and Mr White STILL in it!!!
• The Community Centre at Newbottle is well out of date and a new one should be put in its place.
• St Michael's Church on the Broadway. Worshipped at by incestuous one-day a week Christians, whos cultist practices were once featured on the X-files.
• Houghton Kepier school
• Mautland Square... and it is going to be demolished!
• your more store
• The Mill
• Gass nightclub with a bomb on a Friday night!!
• The Burn
• all of the newtown estate and of course hall lane should be burned down if they are not allready, the people that live there should (yes should) be ashamed of them selfs the place is a grot hole
• Th Burn and 75% of the clientel
• The Job Centre's awful.
• Maultland square has always been a bone of contention!
• The Card House it's tripe
• hall lane estate would look better as a pile of rubble
• The council offices - preferably with all the staff in it cos I've never met a more unfriendly bunch in all my life!!
• Mautland Square is due to be converted into a co-op supermarket
• MAUTLAND SQUARE... either that or get it covered over with a glass roof or something. This is a cold, windy and forlorn spot in complete contrast to the nearby busy Newbottle Street shops.

The Best Things

• all roads out of the place
• The best thing about living in Houghton,is the madness of evryone
• NOT Hall Lane. The posh end near the mill and up to the burn is best. Nice people live here, normal people who know more than just to beat people up. and they HAVE JOBS. YES!! J-O-B-S. Jobs. Where you do WORK for money. U know? Jobs. (I have to patronise here because most of the Hall Laners don't know what this means)
• Not many deaths
• Hillside Farm Riding School and Livery for brilliant riding lessons and first class livery for your horse or pony.
• The people are very friendly and the town still plays host to many 'characters'. Houghton Feast, although not as important an event as it was many years ago, is still a favourite with residents young and old. There is something for everyone and the church plays an important part in these celebrations.
• The A690 that takes you out!
• there is more community centres opened for the kids and more for then to do now to what there used to be
• The locals
• on of the best places in houghton is the newtown the people their are friendly and nice because if they werent they would grass all the hooligans that comes from the surrounding areas its a lot better since the new people that moved in have moved back out if its such a bad place why did they move there in the first place are were they running away from their past. good riddance to them all.
• having a smoke on a friday
• the new Community Access Point in HALL LANE ESTATE it is fab, not everyone in Hall Lane are criminals 'some of us can actually spell aswell!!!'
• the burn inn, full of classy people
• Houghton School circa 1975 to 1982 (what a laugh)
• Johns changing hair and dress sense
• Anywhere but the Burn.
• the best thing about Houhton is the Charvas. One could travel anywhere in the world and not be able to find such a number of the Kappa Trackie wearing little tykes on the face of the planet.
• Area around the church.
• Superdrug,it's got nice make-up.It's got everything
• JOE'S POND... This small stretch of water is well hidden and you'll have to ask the locals how to get there. Surround by trees and bushes, it's just a short distance from the town centre and is an oasis of peace and tranquility. GREAT VIEWS... from the hills at the top of Houghton their are fine views across towards Durham Cathedral and beyond. HOUGHTON FEAST... the annual fair held as the dark nights arrive in October. It's origins go back hundreds of years. Don't miss the fresh sandwiches from the Ox Roast!

The Worst Things

• everything and everyone connected with houghton,all roads leading into it why dont they build a giant fence around the dump and let them all thieve from each other til their hearts content or tell the americans that bin laden lives in the newtown
• the park in the new estate in success road which is full of kappa slappers and tracksuit warriors
• Trying to regain your sanity
• Hall Lane Estate.
• All of it. Especialy the rough estates.
• Too many youth yobs.
• Houghton has recently undergone a major refurbishment but still lacks a lot of amenities. There is a lot of new housing in the area but places like the Metro Centre get the shopping business and Boldon the cinema business. The nearest swimming pool is Hetton (and its not so good) and there is virtually nothing for kids to do.
• Kappa slappers are still prevalent in the town and trackie tops and bottoms with trainers are like a uniform. Not much to do in the evenings.
• If you want teeth like Jimmy Tarbuck see Jimmy Tang. Hell, Jimmy Crankie could do a better job!
• the kids who hang around the white on a friday night who are bastards and they just annoy everybody
• the worst thing is that people are condemning the hall lane estate as its the people who gets shoved from sunderland and other places on to hall lane estae and they cause the problems and its the likes of the people who have lived on the estate for years whom get the blame
• The ugly locals of hall lane who mingle in houghton n beat u up for fun
• the worst things are the people that go to the newtown to dump cars and break into houses and the newtowners get the blame.
• the people who have slagged off the newtown and racecourse estates on here - for your information they are not bad places now it is the likes of those who condem it and others who made the estate what it was and as for cars being nicked and dumped them 95 per cent of those and some of the burglaries were insurance jobs committed by the scum of the earth. Those who live in some parts of houghton like down by the burn hotel area have more debt and hidden secrets than anyone on either estate mentioned above - have to live up to their neighbours and are the biggest bunch of tosspots ull ever meet
• crapy fish shop in queensway!!!
• The business of the TOXIC WASTE !! risk to our fair and glorious town!!!!
• Burnside estate! THAT should be a pile of rubble. It will be of use to some i,m sure. "NEWTOWNERS" those from a far off galaxy unknown to Human kind! who wear their hair on top of their heads like b****Y trolls!
• Ignorant people who judge others, there are a lot of intelligent folk here. :-<
• having no skate park
• they knocked houghton school down!
• Houghton New Town, full of Charvers.
• I HAVE TO DISAGREE TO THE COMMENTS MADE ABOUT GAZZ.BEING FROM SOMEWHERE ON THE CONTINENT IHAVE TO SAY THAT I CERTAINLY ENJOYED MY NIGHT OUT IN HOUGHTON ESPECIALLY GAZZ.NOT ONLY CAN YOU GET COMPLETELY PISSED WITHOUT ANYBODY GIVING A TOSS,IT'S SO UNUSUAL THAT IT IS DEFINETLY WORTH A VISIT.AT LEAST YOU CAN SAY YOU HAVE GOT A ZOO!
• The A690 dual carriageway which splits the town in two.
• The amount of Kappa Slappers walking about. The fact that new housing estates seem to be popping up everywhere - if this carrys on we'll be connected to Sunderland - god what a horrible thought
• New Town (where my nicked car was found!)

The Knowhere Guide started out as a list of places to skateboard in the UK. It is a compilation of (unedited) information and views supplied by users like yourself. It is not a conventional tourist guide!

In most cases, the information in each section has been submitted by more than one contributor (the credits at the bottom of the page list some, but not all, of the contributors) and some of it dates back to the 1970s.

We make no claims as to the accuracy of the information in the Guide - our only purpose is to provide a forum for users to share their knowledge and opinions. So please keep a large bag of salt handy and be prepared to read between the lines!

If you disagree with a comment, or information is out of date, please submit an update! The contributors come from all walks of life, and their opinions are bound to be subjective, so if your view isn't represented, please speak up and contribute to the balance of the Guide. See below in the 'Have Your Say' section for how to add your voice.

If we have helped you out or made you laugh you can buy us a pint.

Have Your Say...

You can tell us more about Houghton le Spring. This is also the method to use if you want to correct some of the information already here. (But please remember you're not mailing the person who actually wrote whatever-it-is.)

You can use the add an event form to tell us about events happening in Houghton le Spring.

Or, if you'd just like to leave a message for other users of this site, take a look at The Knowhere Board (handy if you're just trying to get in touch with someone).

Credits

Last updated: 2008-05-01