Freshers: Welcome to Newcastle

Eating

Another list where Newcastle always places in the upper echelons is for the amount of takeaways and fast food restaurants. But eating fast and on a budget doesn’t mean eating bad food, and Newcastle has lots of really great locations that’ll fill your belly without emptying your wallet.

Retro-themed pizza joint DoughDaze has proved a real hit since opening its doors on Ridley Place in the summer of 2022, which isn’t surprising when their slices start at £3.75 and the pizzas are so good. The mac 'n' cheese dough balls are pretty great too. 

Right by DoughDaze is Zapatista Burrito Bar, an eatery so good there’s even a second outlet on Grainger Street near Central Station. The theme here is revolutionary and the burritos are pretty radical too – there’s six regular fillings and an occasional guest, and all the extras and options you’d expect. They also do tacos, quesadillas, nachos and the rest, alongside plenty of cocktails and Mexican beers. 

Also on Ridley Place there’s a great and longstanding sandwich bar, Frankie & Tony’s, which opens from 8am till 3pm except Sundays. The menu plays it pretty straight but the sandwiches are so good there are queues out of the door most days. The food is cheap, fresh and filling – we recommend the Lincolnshire sausage breakfast sandwich for less than three quid, which gets you a free coffee to boot!

There’s a lot of competition for the best burger in Newcastle but two of the strongest contenders are within a couple of minutes of each other. Meat:Stack started as a pop-up but fetched up on Groat Market a couple of years ago and made a helluva name for itself with its ridiculously good burgers. Priding itself on patties that are ‘smashed, steamed and served fast’, there’s an excellent range of toppings from the traditional – streaky bacon, cheese, mustard and the rest – and the more unusual but equally delicious, like chicken tenders, maple syrup and fakey veggie chicken. There’s all the beers, fries and sides you’d expect too. 

Just a short walk away on Shakespeare Street, you can find Fat Hippo which was born over a decade ago in Newcastle but was so popular there are now branches all over the UK. Fat Hippo is all about innovation – you can find calorific delights like Trash Browns and Dirty Waffles alongside a remarkable range of burgers like the unusual but fantastic PB + JJ, a double patty with American cheese, chunky peanut butter, bacon jam and smoked chilli jello! All this plus the expected – and unexpected – sauces, sides and veggie options.

Drinking

Newcastle has a reputation as a drinking city – it’s not an entirely fair impression and a lot of the stories are exaggerated (but not entirely). There’s certainly plenty of great pubs and bars in the city centre and lots of them serve drinks at student loan-appeasing prices.

One of the most convenient for either university is The Five Swans on St Mary’s Place, one of several Wetherspoon branches in the city centre. It's as vast as you’d expect and as with all ‘Spoons, serves a truly monumental range of beers, spirits, cocktails and the rest alongside a menu of cheap but satisfying pub grub. 

Similarly handy for the campuses is The Hancock (on Hancock Street), open from midday to midnight every day. Serving a great range of drinks and a really big selection of food – from tapas and sharing plates to pizzas and steaks – The Hancock is an excellent location for a pint between seminars or after a hard day in the lecture hall.

Located slap bang in the city centre in grand Grade II-listed building, Westgate Road bar Liberty House offers a lengthy drinks list with plenty of cocktails to choose from alongside casual eats (think burgers, street food and pizzas) and a tempting bottomless brunch too.

Just round the corner, cocktail bar Jalou boasts Parisian décor, a heated terrace and DJs playing hip-hop and R&B. There’s a post-work happy hour and a VIP area too, so pick a favourite from the literally dozens of cocktails on offer – the Hendricks Lamarr looks fantastic – and lose yourself in the bass.

At the other end of the station area on Clayton Street West is The Dog & Parrot, the rock 'n' roll heart of the city since the sixties. A real student favourite, the ‘Parrot has everything you need – great drinks at great prices, tasty grub like burgers and loaded fries, and different music policies on each of its two floors. It’s laidback, fun and open till 1:30am six days a week. What more do you need?

Dancing

As well as plenty of excellent places to drink, Newcastle has more than its fair share of clubs catering to all tastes. So whether you’re looking for the latest jump-up jungle or some smooth R&B, the city has it covered.

Let’s start at World HQ – because most students seem to. This is more than a club: it’s a community and an ethos (diverse and opposed to bigotry in all forms), and has a long, long history that reflects that. Tucked away in Carliol Square and spread over two floors of Curtis Mayfield House, World HQ offers cheap drinks, amazing DJs, the occasional live act and a sense of belonging. On any given weekend you might find some cutting-edge D&B, a reggae soundsystem or old skool hip hop.

Over on Times Square, Digital has worked hard to get labelled ‘the Fabric of the North’ and continues to be a focal point for the Newcastle club scene. The club hosts nights promoting all flavours of electronic music with the emphasis on techno, drum & bass and dubstep, but also puts on live acts both within Digital and at its sister venue ThinkTank? next door.

Of a similar vintage to World HQ but definitely focusing on the house and disco end of the spectrum is Greys Club, at the bottom end of Grey Street. Their Friday night drink deals are particularly popular with students and offer doubles, Jägerbombs and alcopops at cut prices.

Down on Westmorland Road you’ll find Powerhouse, a legendary club that started as a strictly gay venue in the eighties but is now inclusive, diverse and a mainstay of Newcastle’s queer culture. It’s open seven days a week – till the early hours at weekends – with music across its various floors and rooms.

Sightseeing

Away from the nightclubs and bars, Newcastle is a remarkable city in all sorts of ways – packed with history, architecture, culture and with a strong sense of identity and community. A wander round its streets throws up all sorts of fascinating landmarks.

Everybody knows Geordies love a bridge and the Millennium Bridge is the most recent and in many ways most innovative example: the world’s first tilting bridge. It first did its tilting, blinking eye thing in June 2001 and looks just as gloriously odd twenty years later.

Five minutes west along the Quayside you’ll find the Tyne Bridge, structurally almost the antithesis of the Millennium Bridge, a huge and dominating presence compared to the delicacy of its near neighbour. It opened in 1928 – although there have been bridges on the site since the second century – and is one of the city’s most notable landmarks.

A short but steep walk up into the city centre will lead you to Grainger Market, the geographical and commercial hub of the city for almost two centuries. It manages to provide all the things you’d expect from a traditional market – fresh groceries and meat, baked goods and cobblers, fabric and pet food – but also a constantly expanding range of mouthwatering food stalls and specialist delis. There’s also the world’s smallest Marks & Spencer. Open between 9am to 5:30pm from Monday to Saturday and with all manner of special events through the year, it really is the place to go for.. well, practically anything.

There’s no escaping the fact that Newcastle is a football city and the legendary St. James' Park stadium looms over it all from the north-western edge of the centre. Whether you’re a Magpies fan or not, the stadium is an impressive sight and worth a visit – there are a range of stadium tours available that give you an in-depth look at the ground but also a chance to see some amazing views of the city.

And if the eating and the drinking and the clubbing and the sightseeing has worn you down, remember that the city is peppered with lush green spaces for you to relax, people-watch or pretend to do some studying. Leazes Park is one great example – a two-minute walk from the stadium but so green and picturesque you’d never imagine the bustle of the city was so close.

That’s just scraping the surface of what Newcastle has to offer its sizeable student community. But of course, the best way to experience a new city is to get out and get amongst it, find your new favourite hangouts and get settled into your new home for the next few years.