Birtley, Tyne and Wear
| Birtley | |
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 War Memorial Garden |
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 Birtley
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| Birtley shown within Tyne and Wear | |
| Population | 8,367 (2011.Ward) |
| OS grid reference | NZ271563 |
| Metropolitan borough | |
| Metropolitan county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | CHESTER-LE-STREET |
| Postcode district | DH3 |
| Dialling code | 0191 |
| Police | Northumbria |
| Fire | Tyne and Wear |
| Ambulance | North East |
| EU Parliament | North East England |
| UK Parliament | |
Birtley is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead, in Tyne and Wear, England. It is situated to the south of Gateshead and is physically linked to Chester-le-Street across the county boundary. Until 1974, Birtley and the adjoining areas of Barley Mow, Vigo and Portobello were part of the old Chester-le-Street Rural District in County Durham. Since 1974, these neighbouring areas have been considered part of 'greater' Birtley. Birtley was a civil parish with a parish council (which also covered the adjoining neighbourhoods) until 1 April 2006, after a local referendum agreed to abolish it. The former parish had a population of 11,377 in 2001. The ward of Birtley in the Gateshead MBC had a population of 8,367 in the 2011 Census.
Birtley is the home of the Royal Ordnance Factory, ROF Birtley and the Komatsu Heavy Engineering Company, which operates from the previous premises of Birtley Iron Works (opened in 1827, which became premises of the Caterpillar Company in the mid-20th century). A 'CarCraft Hypermarket' was built on the site of an old factory in southwest Birtley, reclaiming much wasted brown field site.it is also the home of the new morrison opened in 2015.
The Royal Ordnance Factory was a major target of the German Luftwaffe in World War Two. Thanks to its reputation as a 'misty valley', Birtley and the factory survived many hits. The phrase 'misty valley' was coined by Tommy Lawton, a worker at the ROF in the 1970s.
The ROF factory, operated by BAE, was replaced in late 2011 by a new purpose-built 350,000 sq ft (33,000 m2) factory in nearby Washington and replaced the old Dunlop Tyre factory. The entire Birtley workforce moved to this site.
The Japanese heavy engineering firm Komatsu is now the town's main employer, with almost 400 staff.
Danish supermarket operator Netto had a premises in Birtley until October 2011, but it was bought out by rival supermarket The Co-operative Food, which opened soon after. Also in 2011, it was announced that the supermarket Morrisons was to build a 25,000 sq. ft. new supermarket development in the town, which would create hundreds of jobs. In July 2013, Watkin Jones, a Welsh firm, were appointed contractors and after lengthy delays. Construction began in autumn of 2013, and following problems with laying foundations, a revised store opening date of January 2015 was announced. However, the revised date of January 2015 was subsequently revised again because of delays in the building process, with a current and on-target planned opening to take place in April 2015. The new Morrisons store opened in the summer of 2015.
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