A NURSERY'S new baby unit is proving so popular that it might have to expand.

The recently-opened £300,000 unit at the £500,000 Ashfield Nursery and Early Learning Centre, in Gateshead, is in such demand that a reserve overflow amenity may have to be used.

Manager Michelle Cawley said: "It's a couple of weeks or so since the new baby unit was completed and only a handful of the 24 places there remain available.

"We knew it would prove popular but not so quickly.

"Fortunately, we have an over spill facility in the main nursery which we can utilise."

The unit is based in a renovated former coaching house adjoining the nursery, a listed building which was formerly Gateshead Corporation's Ashfield Teacher Training Centre, in Joicey Road, Low Fell.