(06 Jan 2022, 8:39 pm)Storx wrote I know there's a lot of joking around with Kingston Park and the Metro Centre lately but one thing that is noticeable is there's a large chunk of the West End without a link to any supermarket at all. Benwell and Elswick in particular don't and nor does a large chunk of West Road without trailing through to Byker for over 30 minutes. I'm not counting West Denton that place is terrible. Yet 5 minutes drive South is the biggest ASDA in the North East and 10 minutes North is the biggest Tesco in the North East.
It's similar around North Kenton, 5 minutes drive from Tesco Kingston Park, no service at all. 5 minutes from ASDA and M&S Gosforth no service at all. Nearest supermarket Morrisons West Denton, 27 minutes on a bus and it's crap.
I agree they don't deserve buses from everywhere but when you can't get the basics right it's no wonder people are driving. Tesco Kingston Park, ASDA Metro Centre and ASDA Gosforth are pretty much inaccessible from most of the Stagecoach network in North / West Newcastle and they're there to serve those areas pretty much.
Benwell, and by extension Elswick given it's relatively close proximity, has an Asda, Iceland and Lidl. The Asda isn't huge admittedly, but the presence of all three gives local shoppers a good deal of choice. Elswick/Arthurs Hill also has a small Asda Supermarket too.
If you're travelling to Tesco at Kingston Park or Asda at Metrocentre, then the chances are you're probably there to do a bigger shop than you normally would in Benwell. This means you'll probably be lugging around a trolley-load of shopping in carrier bags and, lets face it, the prospect of using a bus whilst carrying a load of shopping isn't the most desirable due to the lack of space etc. The chances are, even if there was a service available, people would still opt to use the car.