Pints & Parkruns: Gateshead

Parkrun was pretty much designed for places like Saltwell Park. This popular green hub in Gateshead’s southern suburbs has a large population in its immediate catchment area – and the locals clearly value it. Visitor numbers in 2012 topped 2 million and it has won awards including Britain’s Best Park and the Civic Trust Park of the Year. Keeping in mind parkrun’s key aim to encourage as many people as possible to get out and active in their own communities, it’s hardly surprising that Saltwell was a fairly early adopter. The inaugural event was back in Feb. 2012 and it’s continued happily ever since.

Today, the number of runners hovers around 300. Judging by the lack of overcrowding in the car park, an impressive proportion of these seem to arrive on foot or public transport. It might not be a tourist hotspot, but that doesn’t mean it lacks attractions.

First, the park itself is worth exploring, as local artist Charlie Rogers found throughout his career. Although it doesn’t feature on the parkrun route, Saltwell Towers is an impressive late Victorian mansion at the heart of it all. There’s a picturesque dene, a couple of excellent playgrounds (as tested by my daughter) and a boating lake, which parkrunners circle repeatedly on the three-and-a-bit lap course.

Second, the route itself is a fine test. It’s up and down – 66m of elevation gain, but the same amount in descents. Run entirely on paved paths, it’s quicker than you’d expect with that profile. But don’t assume it isn’t testing. Returning to the highest point for a third time takes physical and mental strength.

There are other rewards. Running around the lake offers glimpses of swans and ducks, plus the early manoeuvres of the local model boating club (a Saltwell staple since the 1880s). Volunteers are friendly and encouraging, particularly at the bottom of the hills. You’ll hear plenty of authentic Geordie greetings of the ‘bonnie lad’ or ‘hinnie’ variety, even when there’s nowt bonnie about a red-faced, sweaty face slogging around the final lap.

Practicalities: there’s no need for trail shoes here – the course is entirely paved. The park has a free carpark on its southern edge and there is on-street parking closer to the Brinkburn entrance and the parkrun start. Those streets can be tightly parked with residents, though, so approach with caution – especially if you dither over parallel parking! Bus users can take any of the many services that run between Newcastle and the Angel of the North towards points south. A welcome addition since my first visit, Prism Coffee is now operating out of the pavilion at the start / finish line for an instant refuel.

The Pint

When I started out on this project, I was fairly confident that Gateshead parkrun would toasted with a spot of Red Ellen, one of the flagship brews from the Great North Eastern Brewing Company. A red ale, naturally, named after firebrand interwar socialist politician Ellen Wilkinson. She was one of the first women elected to parliament, representing Middlesbrough East in 1924, and achieved greater fame as MP for Jarrow (backing the famous Jarrow Crusade in 1936) and later serving as Education Minister in Atlee’s post-war Labour government. Social history aside, Red Ellen was also a fine beer and GNEB’s home on Lancaster Road, Dunston, carried echoes of the long brewing tradition of the Federation Brewery. The Fed was once a leading supplier of beer to Working Men’s Clubs, another once familiar feature of urban life now in danger of disappearing. Unfortunately, most of this paragraph is in the past tense. Earlier this year, GNEB went into receivership. Administrators hope to sell it as a going concern, but the signs are not encouraging. Which serves as a reminder that if we want our beers to offer more variety than ubiquitous mass-market fare, we need to give active support to smaller breweries and the pubs and bottle shops that sell them.

First visit: July 2022; PB: 25:19

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