Tyne and Wear is a metropolitan county in North East England created in 1974, comprising the five metropolitan boroughs of Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead, Sunderland, South Tyneside and North Tyneside. Though the county council was abolished in 1986, the area retains strong shared identity through the Tyne and Wear Metro network, cross-boundary services and the wider North East Combined Authority. Newcastle upon Tyne, the largest city, is the regional capital and a major centre for education, culture, retail and commerce in the North of England.