Newcastle upon Tyne

21

Slick restaurant serving quality British and French bistro food. The same group runs Café 21 within Fenwick's on Northumberland St.

Tue-Sat noon-2:30PM, 5:30-9PM

Akenside Traders

Relaxing sports bar, decent food. There's a good view of the river and Guild Hall from the front, and a DJ provides the music.

Mon-Thu 11AM-midnight, Fri Sat 11AM-1AM, Sun 10AM-midnight

Bacchus

Ocean liner decor redolent of Tyneside's shipbuilding days. A long drink list includes wines, cask ales and microbrews.

Mon-Sat 11AM-midnight, Sun noon-10:30PM

Bar Blanc

Relaxing place with a mixture of locals and hotel guests, shiny decor and a large outside seating area.

Mon-Sat 11AM-11PM, Sun noon-10:30PM·B&B double £50

Blackfriar's Restaurant

Great reviews for what may be the UK's oldest restaurant. You sit at long tables in a 13th-century monastery refectory, and consume better monkfish than ever the locally-sourced freshly-shrived Black Friars got to eat.

Mon-Fri noon-2:30PM, 5:30-10PM, Sat 9:30AM-10PM, Sun 9:30AM-4PM

Bridge Tavern

A great craft brewpub: reasonably priced and always busy, serves food. 10+ taps on the bar which change regularly.

Mon-Thu noon-midnight, Fri Sat noon-1AM, Sun noon-11PM

Centurion

An impressively designed bar and restaurant in the restored Victorian lounge of the Central Station, the Centurion is a favourite stop for commuters. Live sports on a drop-down big screen. Choose from the bustling main bar or the more intimate cafe-deli.

Daily 8AM-11PM

Charts

formerly Flynn's

Pleasant quayside place for a quiet drink and meal, with no tears shed for its rough predecessor.

Wed Thu 4PM-10PM, Fri Sat noon-midnight, Sun noon-7PM

City Vaults

Idols

This spacious club features three bars, different music in different rooms, and big screens for showing football on match days. Topless dancers and scantily clad bar staff abound. As if all that wasn't enough, they serve food, including sandwiches, burgers, salads, and curries.

Thu-Sun 8PM-3AM

Crown Posada

Beautifully preserved 1880s long-room pub, with stained glass windows and wood-panel ceiling. A gramophone in back cranks out vintage tunes, and it's a great place to try real ales from local breweries.

Daily 11AM-midnight

Cumberland Arms

Atmospheric 1860s pub with real ales, a roaring fire and live music, large outside seating area with heaters.

Mon 5PM-10PM, Tue-Fri 2PM-10PM, Sat Sun noon-10PM

Discovery Museum

Science and engineering museum including Turbinia designed by Sir Charles Parsons in 1894, the world's first turbo-powered ship.

Mon-Fri 10AM-4PM, Sat Sun 11AM-4PM·Free

Everyman

Delightful salon-style cinema where you recline on sofas and are served food and drink. Obviously that's reflected in the ticket prices.

Adult £13, child £9

Forth Hotel

Cosy pub with a great selection of real ales, imported beers and wine, serves food. It doesn't have accommodation.

Sun-Thu noon-11PM, Fri Sat noon-1AM

Frankie & Tony’s Sandwich Bar

Generous portions. Quick service. Worth waiting in the queue. A sandwich is for about £4.

Gallery North

The gallery was established in 1977 within Northumbria University and has rotating exhibitions. The University's permanent art collection is for teaching and research, and not generally on public display. However the Woon Gallery, opened in 2018, is a long-term loan of Asian (mostly Buddhist) art.

Wed-Sat 10AM-4PM·Free

Great North Museum: Hancock

Contains fossils, mummies, stuffed animals and local history exhibits.

Mon-Fri 10AM-5PM, Sat 10AM-4PM, Sun 11AM-4PM·Free

Laing Art Gallery

Traditional art gallery built in 1901 in sort-of Edwardian Baroque. It has artistic local glass, silverware and ceramics and a notable collection of 18th and 19th century British paintings. (Contemplate the fiery Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah before heading out for a night on the town.) "The Blue Carpet" is the tiled street installation outside, expensively fitted in 2001 but only then did they realise they'd made it green. 20 years of skateboarders and other urban wear and tear have turned it blue-grey.

Mon-Sat 10AM-4:30PM·Free

Landmark Oriental

Great reviews for this high-class Chinese restaurant and bar in Chinatown.

Tue-Thu 5PM-9PM, Fri Sat noon-2:30PM, 5-9:30PM, Sun noon-8PM

Live Theatre

Small independent theatre producing new works by writers from the North East.

Newcastle Castle

Only in England does a "new" castle mean from 1080 AD. The old one was Pons Aelius, the 2nd century Roman bridge and fort, later the site of a Saxon monastery. The new structure was a motte and bailey, a wooden fort perched on an earth mound, built when Robert (son of William I) had been bashing the Scots and reckoned there might be some comeback. In the 1170s, Henry II replaced this with a stone castle. The Black Gate was added in 1350 then the walls were extended to protect the whole town. It fell derelict in the 16th century, was repaired for the Civil Wars nicely in time to be wrecked again, then again restored in the 19th century. It finally suffered an unforeseen and devastating invasion: in 1850 the railway came through, as this was the most practical route to cross the Tyne and link up with the railway from Edinburgh. Only the Keep and Black Gate survived this assault, with the tracks between them, so you get a good panning view as your train slows on the tight curve into Central Station.

Apr-Sept daily, Oct-Mar Thu-Mon 10AM-5PM·Adult £9.95, conc £8.95, child £6.50

Newcastle Cathedral

St Nicholas

This is the Anglican cathedral and seat of the Bishop of Newcastle. It was completed in 1350 in Perpendicular style, and its distinctive lantern spire was added in 1448. The Church of St Nicholas was upgraded to a cathedral in 1882 when a Diocese of Newcastle was separated from Durham as the city population grew.

Mon-Fri 8AM-6PM, Sat Sun 8AM-5PM·Donation £5

Osbornes

This spacious bar shows live sports on wide-screen TVs and has an outdoor beer garden.

Sun-Thu noon-11PM, Fri Sat noon-11PM

People's Theatre

Long-established amateur theatre company with 500-seat auditorium and 90-seat studio.

Pitcher & Piano

An extensive list of beers, wines, shooters and cocktails. The glass fronted building has two floors and a rooftop terrace, nice views of the river and Millennium Bridge. DJs and occasional live music.

Daily 11AM-10PM

Powerhouse

Newcastle's longest running and biggest gay dance club, with four floors of music from the 1990s to disco and more.

Nightly 11PM-4AM

Quilted Camel

Quirky cocktail bar with a range of 30 cocktails, with retro-chic interior.

Fri Sat 6PM-1AM

Revolution

Spacious, ultra-modern vodka bar with cool architecture (pillars, high sculpted ceiling, stainless steel bar and huge windows) and great selection of flavoured vodkas and cocktails. Dress is "smart casual", which means no baseball caps or hoodies. Music ranges from pop to indie to R&B to house.

Mon-Thu noon-midnight, Fri-Sun noon-1AM

Sachins

Upscale Punjabi restaurant, gets very busy with the post-match crowd.

Mon-Sat noon-1:30PM, 5-9:30PM

Seven Stories

National Centre for Children's Books

Housed in a Victorian mill, Seven Stories is the first gallery and archive in the UK wholly dedicated to the art and production of children's books. There are exhibitions and events for children.

Daily 10AM-5PM·£13