Northern Suburbs, Cape Town


The Northern Suburbs is a group of suburbs and exurbs in the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality. It comprises the sub-districts of Tygerberg and Oostenberg. The region's main and largest town is Bellville.

Overview

The Northern Suburbs lies behind of the imaginary line, 'the Boerewors Curtain' which basically distincts between the predominantly English-speaking Southern Suburbs and the predominantly Afrikaans-speaking Northern Suburbs.

Geography

The Northern Suburbs stretches from Maitland in the west, to Kraaifontein, Brackenfell, Blue Downs, and Kuils River in the east, to Philadelphia in the north, and to Cape Town International Airport, Heideveld, Mfuleni in the south.
Towns such as Maitland, Goodwood, Parow are located more towards the city centre, whilst Durbanville is on the northern outskirts and Brackenfell, Blue Downs, Kraaifontein and Kuils River is on the eastern outskirts. Towns such as Durbanville, Brackenfell, Kraaifontein and Kuils River are transitioning from rural to urban towns.
Towns such as Klipheuwel and Philadelphia are rural towns and exurbs of Cape Town.

Commerce

Its main town and economic hub is Bellville which is centrally located in the region. Bellville is home to the Northern Suburbs' largest shopping centre, Tyger Valley Shopping Centre, home to many corporate headquarters namely Sanlam, Metropolitan and Pioneer Foods and regional offices, three universities and a few colleges and 6 hospitals.
Parow is also another but smaller economic centre which includes the head offices for The Foschini Group, MWEB, Pepkor and PetroSA and South Africa's second largest hospital, Tygerberg Hospital
Brackenfell, located on the outskirts is also another but smaller and developing economic centre, home to Cape Gate Shopping Centre, which also one of the largest shopping centres in the Western Cape. Brackenfell is also known to home to local retailers' headquarters such as Shoprite-Checkers and Food Lover's Market.

Industrialisation

The Northern Suburbs's main industrial areas are in Bellville, Parow, Goodwood, Brackenfell, Maitland and Kraaifontein. Industrial areas include Stikland, Bellville South and Sacks Circle in Bellville; Parow Industrial in Parow; Brackengate, Okavango Park and Brackenfell Industrial in Brackenfell, Kraaifontein Industrial in Kraaifontein, Epping in Goodwood and the industrial area along Voortrekker Road in Maitland.

Rural Activity

Majority of the rural economy or activity is based around Durbanville, Fisantekraal, Philadelphia, Klipheuwel, Kraaifontein, Brackenfell and Kuils River. Durbanville is known for the Durbanville Wine Valley which lies amongst the Tygerberg Valley Hills, whilst Kraaifontein has surrounding poultry, equestrian and guest farms. Brackenfell includes the Hazendal Wine Estate and Kuils River includes the Zevenwacht Wine Estate which are both at the start of the Stellenbosch Wine Route and the Cape Winelands. Philadelphia and Klipheuwel have various farms surrounding them such as dairy, wheat and bird farms. Philadelphia also has a wine farm near the town, Capaia Wines.
County Fair has a poultry farm and abattoir near Fisantekraal.

Transport

Air

The Cape Town International Airport is located on the southernmost border of the Northern Suburbs and is situated in Matroosfontein. It offers domestic and international flights to Africa, Asia, Europe and North America.

Rail

There are numerous commuter train stations in the Northern Suburbs offered by Metrorail Western Cape serving the City of Cape Town and surrounding towns. Train stations in the Northern Suburbs stretch from Goodwood in the west to Kraaifontein in the east to Mikpunt in the north and Belhar in the south. Durbanville is the only suburb in the region with no rail access.

Road Links

The Northern Suburbs's main road is the N1 freeway which links to Cape Town city centre, Paarl, Worcester and Bloemfontein, Johannesburg and Pretoria to a further extent. The N1 bypasses Maitland and then cuts through Goodwood, Parow, Bellville, Brackenfell and Kraaifontein.
The R300 is another major freeway in the Northern Suburbs linking to Mitchells Plain and Phillipi in the Cape Flats region. This road begins in the Stellenberg Interchange between Brackenfell and Bellville and passes the suburbs of Brackenfell, Bellville, Kuils River, Blue Downs and Delft before meeting with the N2, south of Delft.
Durbanville is the only suburb that has no link to a freeway however it does have an indirect link to the N7 to Malmesbury via the M13 and to the N1 via the R302, M124 and M100.
Regional routes in the Northern Suburbs the R300, R102 to Cape Town and Somerset West, R302 to Malmesbury and R101 to Paarl and Worcester.

Recreation

Entertainment

Suburbs

Although the suburbs of Bothasig, Edgemead and Monte Vista geographically fall under the Northern Suburbs, they administratively fall under Milnerton which is mainly part of the Blaauwberg region of the City of Cape Town.

Exurbs