James, I live in Sunderland and must compliment you on your storytelling and presentation of our City.  Well done.

Hi James, I’m an estate agent in Sunderland and the city hit bad times in the 1980’s with closure of the shipyards and coal mines and it’s taken a while to recover but the recovery is well underway. You missed the culture quarter with some great entertainment places, a wonderful converted fire station with live music and food, the theatre which is beautiful and more things planned. We have an amazing sea front and beaches and terrific places to live with thousands of new homes being built and more planned on the south side of the river. We have some lovely parks and nature reserves with fantastic wildlife. The next 10 years or so should see some more development and positive changes. I’m from Sunderland and I’ve lived in various places and the only negative is the weather! It’s cold.

Moral of story....Don't follow the crowd.....that goes for everything

So sad what's happening to our once proud towns, it's the industry up North that made the South what it is today.

Great vlog James. I'd like to expand on the Victoria Hall tragedy.
What happened was when the children rushed downstairs, they were confronted by a closed door which opened inwardly, and due to the crush of hundreds of kids, could't therefore be opened. Due to this tragedy, legislation was passed that all exit doors must open outwards...which is still in law today.

Yep, definitely painted a different picture of Sunderland to what was in my imagination. Best wishes to all people in the Sunderland region.

My grandad lived and breathed Sunderland football club

'I have seen one half decent pub' Try these, Isis, Museum Vaults, Ivy House, Kings Arms, The Peacock, Chaplins, Fitzgeralds, The Dun Cow, Sam's Bar, The Fans Musuem, Saltgrass, Bridge Hotel Vaults, The Roker Hotel, The Stack,  MOD,  The Avenue, The Wolsey, The Harbour View, The Fire Station, Vesta Tlleys, Grannie Annies and the Rosedene. Thats enough for an afternoon pub crawl and they are just the decent real ale and craft places that come to mind. There are far more than that as well.

You could do 6 or 7 decent pubs just in Seaburn and Roker and never even get into the city centre where you could easily do 12 more.

Bottom line is you spent the whole time in the shopping area which is not where people in Sunderland go to eat and socialise.

I was born in Sunderland in the early 1950's . The city centre was very badly bombed during WWII and its reconstruction only really began in the 1960's . Sadly architectural  standards were very low in the 1960's and that's why today we find that a lot of buildings in the city centre resemble concrete shoe boxes.  
One of the worst air raids in 1941 took out the Victoria Hall but I don't think that its loss was mourned very much by the local people. It's former location was marked later by the construction one of the city's first multi storey car parks. That too was rather thankfully erased from the landscape a few years ago.

Sunderland looks lovely...like you i had no idea.

Loved your video, I worked at Wearmouth Colliery for many years they were some of the happiest and hardest years of my working life. It was an education in humanity and comradery. Salt of earth the men that worked there, I left in 1993 as the pit was earmarked for closure. There were 4 shafts where The Stadium of Light was build, I keep telling my grandkids that I played on that ground for lots of years. As a early teenager 13 and over my Dad, Brother and Uncle used to go fishing off Roker Pier in the 1960,s, again happy times. Thanks again for video, I,m 73 now. Sorry for going o a bit.

This is the sad demise of town centres with no identity and only a few vestiges of former happier times, lovely buildings swamped by cold modern blocks.

183 , tragic even after all these years, poor kid and families.

Lord Shaftsbury is another great from the aristocracy! He was treated badly by his own parents, and brought up by his working class servants. So, when he became powerful and rich, he used his influence to help poor youngsters. Shaftsbury Avenue in London is named after him.😊

As you know james I'm sheffield born and bred, moved to the north east a few years ago. You can see roker lighthouse from my bedroom and kitchen. This was an amazing video, very informative. People don't realise how beautiful it is up here, they just focus on the negative. I would never move back to where I came from even though I'm proud of my city. My family on both sides originated from the north east, but moved to Yorkshire to the pits, hence why I was born and brought up in sheffield. The north east is a beautiful place, amazing people. This video made me proud of my heritage. Thank you 😊 live in county durham but sunderland a stones throw away. The city centre not so good, but most city centres the same now sadly

No need to apologise for the state of bolton  a five minute drive north some of the nicest countryside and villages with lovely pubs 👍🍺

Seaburn is beautiful - especially in the summer 👍

We often walk along Seaburn seafront 🥰

You put a lot of work into your videos James. This hasn't gone unnoticed.

never been to mackem land but looks quite decent to be fair

Punk rock band did a video here toy dolls dig that groove baby 🎉