Places of Interest
South Shields town centre offers high street shopping with a regular market and museum & art gallery. Arbeia Roman Fort Museum offers a reconstructed Roman fort at the Lawe Top. The seafront offers the traditional British seaside experience - fairground, parks, boating lake and miniature steam railway, amusements and arcades, hotels, bed and breakfasts, caravan and camping sites, restaurants, amphitheatre, outdoor live entertainment, promenades, Groyne lighthouse and the mile-long South Pier. On the coast road to Whitburn, Marsden Rock, a limestone sea stack colonised by sea birds, is a longstanding tourist attraction. Less famous is the nearby Souter Lighthouse, the first in the world to be generated by electricity, and the secluded Jackie's Beach is a welcome change from the busier beaches of Marsden. Much of the coastal scenery in this area was until two decades ago dominated by the spoil heaps and pithead winding gear of the collieries, but those are now gone and the area's natural beauty has been restored.
The Customs House Arts Centre,situated in the Mill Dam conservation area hosts theatre,cinema, art gallery and restaurant and is open 363 days a year.
Bede's World, the Tyne Pedestrian Tunnel, the refurbished Viking Shopping Centre, and J Barbour factory outlet at Jarrow are also of interest.
Westoe, Harton, Cleadon, East Boldon, Monkton and Whitburn are typical suburban villages offering traditional pubs, building styles and small shopping boutiques. There is a cricket ground at Whitburn village.
Hebburn riverside is surprisingly green and open with views to the busy shipyards across-river at Wallsend.
South Shields Sailing Club, Temple Park Leisure Centre, Gypsies Green and Monkton Stadium, Hebburn Swimming Pool, national and local cycle routes, open areas and parks are the main outdoor recreational areas. The Great North Run is the world's biggest half marathon which takes place every September/October, starting in Newcastle and finishing on The Leas in South Shields.
In summer there is a festival with opening street parade, street and stage entertainment and an open-top tour bus connecting various places of interest.
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