At the heart of North East England is a town that offers an exciting choice of activities for everyone from designer shopping to premiership football.

Middlesbrough, the town that was home to that famous eighteenth-century maritime explorer, Captain James Cook offers you a range of entertainment venues and attractions to suit all tastes.

Middlesbrough is a town that is buzzing day and night with an amazing range of clubs, restaurants that offer a variety of mouth-watering dishes from around the globe, cinema, theatre and a host of pubs.

Transport isn't a problem as this runs throughout the day right through into the evenings and if you should choose to use your own private transport then there is ample parking.

One of the new developments that is happening within the Tees Valley is Manhattan Gate which is an exciting new business environment that is situated in a superb landscaped arena on the waterside of Middlehaven, Middlesbrough.

If study is your choice then there is the University of Teesside which offers an excellent range of courses. There is also Cleveland college of Art and Design and many other learning centres.

Middlesbrough not only appeals to students due to its excellent learning facilities but also because it has some of the cheapest accommodation available in the United Kingdom. Venture just outside Middlesbrough and you are back into the spectacular stretches of coast and countryside.

The town itself hosts a range of shopping centres with plenty of brand name stores. There's also a choice of department stores so even the most experienced shopper will find it a formidable challenge.

Opening in 2006 will be a major new modern and contemporary art gallery. It will be situated in the town centre between the Carnegie Library and Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen's sculpture, 'Bottle of Notes'. Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art or Mima for short will host an internationally important programme of exhibitions, presenting the very best of art and craft from 1900 to the present day. It will bring together the town's art and craft collections for the first time.

These modern and contemporary art collection comprises of well over 1,000 paintings, drawings, prints, photographs and sculpture which include work by Ben Nicholson, David Bomberg, LA Lowry, Stanley Spencer, Gwen John, David Hockney and Bridget Riley as well as many young internationally acclaimed artists.

With more and more exciting new developments and events taking place every year in what is classed as the commercial hub of the Tees Valley you will never be short of finding things to do.

We hope this has given you an insight into this lively area and to find out more about what this town has to offer in the way of entertainment, shopping and attractions then please use the links provided in the main menu or click here for more related links.