Tyneside is the built-up area along both banks of the River Tyne in north-east England, stretching from Newcastle east to where the river meets the sea. It is not a single town but a string of them joined together — Newcastle, Gateshead, Wallsend, North and South Shields — treated as one place because they grew up around the same river and the same work. That work was heavy industry: shipbuilding, coal, engineering. Tyneside built ships for the world. Most of it closed in the 1970s and 1980s, and many thousands of people lost their jobs, which is why the name still carries a note of hardship and pride together in British writing. Today the area is better known for its universities, music, football and nightlife. A person from Tyneside is a Geordie, and the accent is one of the most recognisable in England. You will see the word in phrases like 'a Tyneside firm' or 'growing up on Tyneside' — note that people say ON Tyneside, not 'in'.