Roker

Roker is an area of northern Sunderland, England, bounded on the south by the River Wear, on the east by the coast, on the north by the tourist resort of Seaburn, and on the west by the Newcastle Road. It was known worldwide for being home to Roker Park, home of Sunderland A.F.C. for 99 years until 1997. The district is an area of contrasts. The area to the immediate south of Roker Avenue was typical of the depressed inner-cities. These streets around Dame Dorothy Street, known as 'Dame Dot', were home to high-rise council flats and run-down maisonettes. Since the formation of Sunderland Housing Group, though, the area is improved massively. To the north of Roker Avenue lie row after row of Victorian workers' houses – all the streets named after members of William Gladstone's cabinet (Gladstone, Hartington, Forster, Bright, Stansfield and so on). Further north, around Roker Park Road, are exclusive terraced mansions, and hotels and expensive apartments which overlook the North Sea from Roker Terrace.

Roker Park, not to be confused with the Sunderland A.F.C. team's former football ground which was nearby, is a beautiful landscaped Victorian park in Roker which opened in 1880. It boasts a miniature railway, a Victorian bandstand, a boating lake, bowling greens, tennis courts and a magnificent bridged ravine leading to the promenade and beach.