Cooke Town, Bangalore

Overview

Named after GH Cooke, Bangalore Civil and Military Station Municipality (1928-34), Cooke Town is a busy residential market in the heart of North Bangalore serving to middle class industrial and retail demography. It is driven by neighbouring areas such as KR Puram, Lingarajapuram, Benson Town, RT Nagar and Shivaji Nagar. Presence of Military Grounds and the pre-independence establishment nearby, the area has an old-world charm. Cooke Town enjoys good accessibility both via road and rail networks making it a suitable residential destination.

Connectivity

●       Hennur Main Road is the lifeline of road connectivity with the North Bangalore markets while Wheeler Road connects it to the central markets such as MG Road and Baiyappanahalli Road with the eastern Centre via Old Madras Road.

●       Cooke Town enjoys good rail connectivity with the presence of Bangalore East station adjacent to the area along with Banaswadi Railway Station.

●       It is also in close proximity to the Baiyappanahalli metro station providing added accessibility to the central and western parts of the city.

●       Kempegowda International Airport is about 35km via Outer Ring Road and Hennur/Bellary roads.

Factors for growth

●       Phase 2 development of Namma Metro connecting Gottigere with Nagawara via the Hennur Main Road is the possible plus factor for the region. A steep rise in rental and capital values is expected in the times to come.

●       Rising corporate establishments along Hennur Road along with the proximity to already present IT/ITeS hubs in North and East Bangalore could drive the residential growth in the region, which is further expected to push more developer and investor interests in this area.

Infrastructure Developments - Social and Physical

Cooke Town is absolutely a self-sufficient market with several social and physical infrastructure facilities.

●       Popular schools in the reach include Clarence High School, Oasis International School, St Germain High School amongst others. Apart from primary education facilities, the region provides opportunity to reach some of the well known higher educational institutions such as Mathrusri Ramabai Ambedkar Dental College, MQI Degree College, Indian Academy Degree College, Bangalore City College, St George College of Management and Dr SR Chandrasekhar Institute of Speech and Hearing, amongst others.

●       The area is reasonably sufficient with entertainment and retail destinations including Mukunda theatre, Everest theatre, Amruth theatre, Anand theatre, Sri Vinayaka theatre and Lavanya theatre for movie buffs and Orion East Mall along with Gopalan Grand Malls for shopaholics.

●       Frazer Town is the nearest healthcare destination with numerous options among which the popular ones include Cloudnine Clinic, Dr Agarwal’s Eye Hospital, Seventh Day Adventist Medical Centre, Santosh Hospital along with ESI Hospital in the area.

●       Lingarajapuram to the North of the area is rich with temples with popular ones being Venugopalaswamy Temple, Shiva Temple along with Sri Chamundeshwari Temple while Frazer Town has got Hajee Sir Ismail Sait Masjid and the region is dominated with churches such as Ascension Church, Emmanuel Church, Bangalore East Marthoma Church, Mizpah Telugu Church, Holy Ghost Church and Infant Jesus Church, amongst others.

Major Challenges

●       Dominating religious practices in the public often results in high noise pollution.

There were also complaints in the past regarding the groundwater contamination in the area due to improper maintenance of sewage pipelines.