Explore The Northeast
Vibrant and handsome, NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE has emerged from its industrial heyday and its post-industrial difficulties with barely a smut on its face. Its reputation for lively nightlife is just the tip of the iceberg; with its collection of top-class art galleries, museums and flourishing theatre scene – not to mention the shopping – the city is up there among the most exciting in Britain.
The de facto capital of the area between Yorkshire and Scotland, the city was named for its “new castle” founded in 1080 and hit the limelight during the Industrial Revolution – Grainger Town in the city’s centre is lined with elegant, listed classical buildings, indicating its past wealth and importance as one of Britain’s biggest and most important exporters of coal, iron and machinery. The decline of industry damaged Newcastle badly, signalling decades of poverty and hardship – a period recalled by Antony Gormley’s mighty statue the Angel of the North, which, since its appearance in 1998, has become both a poignant eulogy for the days of industry and a symbol of resurgence and regeneration.
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Newcastle orientation
Newcastle orientation
Visitors are encouraged to think of the city as Newcastle Gateshead, an amalgamation of the two conurbations straddling the Tyne. On Gateshead Quays are the BALTIC contemporary arts centre and Norman Foster’s Sage music centre, and on the opposite side, Newcastle’s Quayside is scene of much of the city’s contemporary nightlife. The city splits into several distinct areas, though it’s only a matter of minutes to walk between them. The castle and cathedral occupy the heights immediately above the River Tyne, while north of here lies the city centre, Grainger Town. Chinatown and the two big draws of the Discovery Museum and the Life Science Centre are west of the centre, while east is the renowned Laing Gallery. In the north of the city, on the university campus, is the Great North Museum: Hancock and even further north, through the landscaped Exhibition Park, is the Town Moor, 1200 acres of common land where freemen of the city – including Jimmy Carter, Nelson Mandela and Bob Geldof – are entitled to graze their cattle. The old industrial Ouseburn Valley, home to an alternative cultural scene, interesting galleries, the excellent Seven Stories children’s museum and some popular bars, is a short walk east along the river from the city centre.
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Accommodation
Accommodation
Budget hotel chains offer plenty of good-value rooms in the city centre and down by the Quayside, while the biggest concentration of small hotels and guesthouses – and the YHA hostel – lies a mile north of the centre in popular, student-filled Jesmond, along and off Osborne Road.
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Eating
Eating
Newcastle has a great variety of places to eat, from expensive, top-quality restaurants showcasing the talents of young and creative chefs, to fun, relaxed cafés and budget-friendly Chinese restaurants (mostly around Stowell Street in Chinatown). The popular chain restaurants are down by the Quayside.
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Drinking
Drinking
Newcastle’s boisterous pubs, bars and clubs are concentrated in several areas: in the Bigg Market (between Grey St and Grainger St), around the Quayside and in the developing Ouseburn area, where bars tend to be quirkier and more sophisticated; in Jesmond, with its thriving student-filled strip of café/bars; and in the mainstream leisure-and-cinema complex known as The Gate (Newgate St). The gay area, known as the “Pink Triangle”, focuses on the Centre for Life, spreading out to Waterloo Street and Westmorland and Scotswood roads. Top drinking brew is Newcastle Brown – an ale known locally as “Dog” – produced in this city since 1927.
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Nightlife
Nightlife
Newcastle’s biggest club night is Shindig, taking place on Saturdays and switching locations around the city. Gigs, club nights and the gay scene are reviewed exhaustively in The Crack, available in shops, pubs and bars.
