Out On The Toon: One Night in Newcastle

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After two days glamping in Northumberland, we head south. For the final night of our wedding anniversary break, we’ve booked a one night stay in Newcastle. We check out of our beautiful Badgers Sett shepherd’s hut at 11am, after another wonderful breakfast at The School House. We make a quick stop on the way at Amble. It’s nice to see the town again; after all, this is where we spent our New Years getaway in 2019.

It takes us about an hour from Amble. We leave behind the frosty winter sunshine. In fact, we’re travelling through thick fog – making our choice to take the scenic coastal road a little pointless – before we finally arrive in Newcastle to grey skies and drizzle. The Newcastle road system has been my nemesis in the past, but Mr Fletche gets us to our hotel (almost) first time. We only had to drive round the block once.

The Vermont Hotel has a limited amount of free on-site parking. This is the holy grail of city breaks. Arriving half an hour before check-in, we’re in luck. Mr Fletche is a little perturbed by the man tapping on the car window, demanding our car keys. Turns out this is the concierge, and he will park our car for us. We snatch as many of our belongings as we can, just in case we never see the car again.

Where we stayed: The Vermont Hotel

The Vermont Hotel is right next to the (new) castle which gives the city its name. Newcastle is a compact city so it’s pretty easy to walk everywhere within the city in half an hour. It’s a surprisingly hilly city though so be prepared for a little bit of a workout!

It’s easy to spot the Vermont Hotel on the Newcastle skyline from Gateshead, framed by the spire of St Nicholas’ Cathedral and the stone Castle Keep. The hotel is elegant, situated in the former County Hall for Northumberland; little touches like the concierge parking, mirrored pillars and black velvet make it feel luxurious. The entrance is on Floor 6, with bedrooms above and function rooms and facilities below. As well as the hotel restaurant and bar, there’s a rooftop bar on site, as well as a cocktail bar.

We paid £98.10 for a Castle View Double Room. Squint a little bit and we can see a tiny bit of the Tyne Bridge. The railway line over the High Level Bridge runs past our window; thankfully there is little in the way of external noise. The room is classy, if a little masculine in design, all gold and brown, with wood-veneer furnishings. It’s perfect for spending one night in Newcastle.

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After our mammoth breakfast we’re not quite ready for lunch. It’s time for a stroll. Newcastle is famous for it’s bridges, with seven spanning the Tyne and linking the city with Gateshead on the south bank. Our hotel is right next to the High Level Bridge, a gritty and graffitied feat of Victorian engineering. Trains rumble overhead. There are magnificent views up and down the river, with the famous Tyne Bridge and the Sage Gateshead in the foreground.

We criss-cross back over the Tyne over the Tyne Bridge. The skies are getting darker, and I can no longer feel my face. It’s time to find somewhere for a drink. Luckily, I have a list. Of course I do.

Where to eat and drink in Newcastle

As regular A Brummie Home and Abroad readers will know, I never travel anywhere without a ridiculously long list of places to eat and drink. One afternoon and one night surely means we can fit in an evening meal, a breakfast or brunch, a fancy cocktail and a craft beer or two. Naturally, nothing quite goes to plan.

The Christmas markets are in full swing. Whilst I try and avoid the Birmingham Christmas markets at all costs (occasionally breaking my own rule though) other cities are fair game. The Newcastle markets are centred around Grey’s Monument, lining the streets with little wooden huts and twinkling lights.

There’s a pop up Alpine lodge which looks inviting but first on my list is the Mean-Eyed Cat, a small independent micropub on St Thomas’s Street, with 6 cask lines and 8 keg, plus a fridgeful of bottles and cans. This colourful little dive bar by Haymarket Station is exactly our kind of place. Mexican paraphernalia line the walls, from wrestling photos to film posters, and the obligatory Frida Kahlo prints.

We could easily stay here all evening, working our way down the beer board (there’s a “lethal” Belgian Cherry Beer I have my eye on) but we should probably think about eating. I mean, something more than the bag of pickled onion Monster Munch which accompanied my second beer. I wave bye-bye to Frida and we head out into the chilly Newcastle night.

If you’re a fan of sampling local craft beers then names to look out for in Newcastle include Almasty, Alpha Delta, Big Lamp Brewery, Brinkburn, Full Circle, Newcastle Brewing, Northern Alchemy, Out There Brewing, Under The Bridge, Two by Two and Tyne Bank Brewery.

I’m slightly distracted in my quest for food by that Alpine Lodge. After all, who doesn’t want to sit on a ski lift sipping mulled wine with a vocalist crooning Ed Sheeran, John Legend and lounge versions of Christmas hits? It’s only as we’re leaving to find food that we realise we could have ordered from one of the surrounding stalls by app and ate them gently swinging in front of a faux mountain.

Not wanting anything too heavy to eat, we remember passing the neon pink of Pizza Punks on the way. This growing chain of independent pizzerias pride themselves on their “anarchist and anti-establishment outlook” They are “non-conformist artisans” of the pizza world. They fail to endear themselves to me when they announce they are out of wings, our staple pizza side dish. Luckily, they are not out of pizza. That would be disappointing. We decide not to build-our-own-pizza and opt for the Cubano with a side salad. Healthier than wings. Mr Fletche declares it a little too spicy for his liking. Maybe he should have built-his-own-pizza after all.

One of the things we’ve never had to contend with on our November anniversary break is a World Cup match. Hello? November? World Cup? I had failed to foresee the chance that there may be an England game on telly during our one night in Newcastle. Do we take our chances on finding a nice quiet pub that might be showing the match? Do we avoid it altogether? Or do we go back to our hotel to watch, with plans to head out for a few more drinks afterwards?

We pick the latter. Which inevitably means that once the final whistle blows, I am warm, I am comfortable and I have no intention of going back into the freezing fog on the Tyne. Our wild night in Newcastle turns into one where I’m in my pyjamas by 9:30 and Mr Fletche is watching some sort of CBS Reality crime documentary. Rock and roll.

A morning stroll along Newcastle’s Quayside

I’m fresh as a daisy the next morning after a long uninterrupted night’s sleep. The gentle flickering lights of the trains rumbling past our window were surprisingly soothing. We have an hour or so before check-out so we throw on several layers suitable for the sub zero temperatures and head for a stroll along Newcastle’s famous Quayside.

** Funny (ish) story. We get the lift down to Level 1 for Quayside access. We find ourselves in a courtyard. With a locked gate. The hotel door has closed behind us. We are trapped. We ring the night watchman buzzer. No-one responds. Mr Fletche will have to give me a bunk-up over the fence. Oh hang on. There’s another gate. A wide open gate. Embarrassing situation averted, and thankfully, emergency services are not required.

Despite the grey skies, Quayside is a fabulous for a riverside walk. We spot old buildings, nestling next to the new. We count bridges. Indeed, there are seven. Brightly coloured murals are painted on pavements and stairways. The Baltic Centre for Contemporary Arts is perfectly framed by the tilting Gateshead Millennium Bridge.

We wind our way back through to Grainger Town, the historic heart of the city, where the Christmas market stalls are just starting to open up for the day. The city is surprisingly quiet. Indeed, a couple of the places I’d earmarked for breakfast weren’t even open, despite it being after 9am. The photogenic Flower Café was open though, and a coffee and pastry was the perfect fuel for our long drive back home.

Mr Fletche is pleased to discover that not only has the concierge not run off with our car, but it is handily parked right outside the hotel. We bundle our belongings back into the car and prepare to wave farewell to Antony Gormley’s Angel of the North as we head back down the A1.

With just one night in Newcastle, I don’t think we made the most of our time in the city. Not only is it a culture and foodie hub, there are so many beautiful coastal locations just a short trip out of the city, such as Tynemouth and Whitley Bay. We didn’t get to visit the gritty arches of Ouseburn, or stroll around leafy Jesmond Dene. There was no time for cocktails at WC Newcastle or Pleased to Meet You, or for craft beer and street food at By The River. I still have a LONG list of pubs. But however brief your time, there’s no doubt you’ll find one night in Newcastle enough to sample the warmth and friendliness of the local Geordies.