"Sunderland" a Sunderland Travel Page by steventilly

Sitting on the mouth of the River Wear up in the North East of England, Sunderland was once, along with its near neighbours Newcastle and Middlesbrough, a great shipbuilding centre. The rivers once teamed with vessels and the banks were crammed with shipyards. 25% of all ships built during the war were built in Sunderland.
Like Newcastle too, Sunderland was a centre of the coalmining industry, having collieries of it's own and also being the major seaport of County Durham, with all its collieries.
Both of these industries have all but vanished from the region, leaving a great void in Sunderland that has taken some time to fill. The jobs that have come, with the exception of the Nissan car plant, seem to be largely in the "call centre" type of role, with whole industrial parks being filled by a variety of call centres. While being important to the economy of the region, these jobs are far removed from the mighty industries of the past that are now gone, never to return.