Darlington Directory is a site about Darlington, County Durham

Welcome to Darlington Directory

Darlington is a town in the ceremonial county of County Durham, England, and the main population centre in the Borough of Darlington. Darlington has a resident population of 97,838 as of 1997. On 1 April 1997, the Borough of Darlington became a unitary authority area, which separated it from the non-metropolitan county of Durham, for administrative purposes and is now part of the Tees Valley.

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The town is home to the football team Darlington F.C., known as The Quakers because of the contributions made to the town by men such as Edward and Joseph Pease, members of the Religious Society of Friends.

Darlington is Located within the Tees Valley and is often slated as 'The gateway to the Tees Valley'. Although the tees valley is often known for its industry very little in the way of industry exists in Darlington.

Darlington is close to The Pennines and Cleveland Hills, the North York Moors are also with in easy reach of the town. Both the River Tees and River Skerne pass through the town, the River Skerne later joining the River Tees which then flows into the North Sea.

Darlington railway station (Bank Top) lies on the East Coast Main Line. There are also services from the historic North Road railway station and associated Darlington Railway Centre and Museum.

Transport

Road
The Great North Road, now known as the A1, used to run directly through the centre of Darlington. The road has since been diverted to the west of the town; the original route is now the A167 via North Road in the town centre. The £5.9 m five-mile A66 Darlington Eastern Bypass opened on November 25 1985 and is currently undergoing major reconstruction in an effort to reduce congestion at rush hour. The Darlington Eastern Transport Corridor, linking Central Park (Haughton Road), north east of the town centre to a new roundabout on the A66, was opened in the summer of 2008. The A1(M) Darlington Bypass opened in May 1965.

Rail
Darlington railway stationDarlington is served by Darlington railway station (or Darlington Bank Top railway station) which is on the East Coast Mainline and has regular services to London Kings Cross, Leeds City Station, Edinburgh Waverley, Manchester Picadilly and Newcastle. North Road railway station is situated just outside of Darlington town centre.

Buses
Bus transport in the town is provided by Arriva North-East. Darlington lost out on considerable public receipts when the municipal bus operator Darlingon Transport Company was placed into administration during an attempted privatisation, due to continuing financial difficulties and the Darlington Bus War. Darlington was chosen by the Department for Transport as one of three national Sustainable Travel Demonstration Towns (together with Peterborough and Worcester) in 2004, and has successfully delivered a three year research and marketing programme to promote sustainable travel choices under the brand name 'Local Motion'. It was also chosen as one of six cycling demonstration towns in October 2005, receiving £3 million worth of funding from the government and local authority money. The money has been spent over the course of three years on improving cycling facilities, cycle routes and linking the town to the national cycle route network. Darlington is the only place to win both sustainable travel and cycling demonstration town status.

Airport
Five miles east of the town centre is Durham Tees Valley Airport, which has flights to many domestic locations across the UK and international flights to places across the EU, North Africa and North America.