Newcastle 2024: What’s Happening in the City This Year

NE1 Events

As mentioned, many of the big events in the city’s calendar come courtesy of the team here at NE1, from a packed summer schedule to seasonal fun at Christmas. 

NE1's Newcastle Restaurant Week - the city's biggest foodie event - is back for 2024 and running from 15th to 21st January. It's a fantastic opportunity to enjoy discounted meals at more than 100 of the city's finest restaurants and will return again in August with dates to be announced over the summer.

Summer in the City is one of the city’s biggest series of events and gets a little more impressive every year. Running to approximately coincide with the period of the school holidays (late July to early September) Newcastle will be buzzing with NE1-backed goings on, from Screen on the Green – a free cinema screen in Old Eldon Square showing everything from action-packed sport to family favourite movies - to installations and additions everywhere from Grey Street to the Quayside. There will be a programme of special music, kids and fitness events too, which will be revealed nearer the time. 

And at the end of the summer, there’s the annual Dragon Boat Race on the Tyne to look forward to (and don’t forget to get your team’s application in as soon as you can).

Christmas is always a busy time for the city and NE1 team, and this year will be no different. Late November will see the return of our popular Search for Santa event which leads kids and their families on an exciting adventure trail through the city with fun, festive crafts along the way and - of course - the chance to meet the Big Man in Red himself.

December is positively packed with festive NE1-backed fun too, from 24 Doors - which turns the city into a living advent calendar with a different Newcastle institution opening its doors to the public every day in the run-up to Christmas - to Newcastle's Christmas Market, offering seasonal shopping and festive treats galore as stalls takeover the areas surrounding Grey's Monument and Old Eldon Square.

City Events

There are all sorts of other events taking place in the city centre throughout the year, of course, from cultural happenings to celebrations of the city’s diversity. 

The Chinese New Year celebrations are always the first big event of the year, running for a week in late January and marked by parades through the city and all sorts of happenings in and around Chinatown. A riot of colour, flavour and sounds, it’s not to be missed. 

Another event celebrating one of the city’s most important communities Newcastle's annual Mela, which takes place at the end of August and is a chance for Newcastle’s Pakistani, Bengali, Indian and South Asian inhabitants to show off the music, culture, art and food that now forms an essential part of city life. Mela sees numerous events in the city before it climaxes with a big festival in Exhibition Park.

Another community that stages a wonderful celebration each year is the city's LGBTQIA+ community, which comes together each year for the massive Northern Pride festival. Taking place in late July, Pride is a weekend of awareness, activism, music, parties and absolute good times, a culmination of a longer programme of events across the city.

The city’s cultural life is championed at numerous events, including The Late Shows, the annual event that takes place over two nights in May across the whole city. Best described as a late-night culture crawl, The Late Shows allow all sorts of museums, galleries, art spaces and venues to show off what they do, with everything from print workshops to ceilidhs cropping up in a packed and exciting schedule. 

A new addition the city’s cultural calendar is NOVUM, which happened for the first time last August and is set to make a welcome return this year. A weekend of art, music and happenings in and around the Civic Centre, 2024’s NOVUM is a must-visit if last year’s events are any indication.

There are also various festivals taking place in the city every summer that you’ll want to get involved in too. Loosefest is an annual festival in early August aimed squarely at the ravers with two days of house, techno, drum & bass and disco on the Town Moor - a bass-fuelled village of tents, fairground rides and bars for thousands of music fans. 

Also in August is Noughty 90s, a day-long celebration of two brilliant decades taking place in Leazes Park. This year it’s on August 24^th and with previous years hosting rave-tastic acts like Tinchy Stryder, Five, Technotronic, Basshunter and Rozalla, it’s a treat for people who miss their clubbing heyday. 

This year there’s a new addition to the Tyneside festival schedule: In The Park Festival takes over Leazes Park across the May Day Bank Holiday (Friday 3^rd and Sunday 5^th) and has already announced singer-songwriter Tom Grennan as Friday’s headliner. Keep an eye on listings as big names get added to the bill.

City Centre Developments

The city is alive with new developments and civic works at the moment, many aimed at making Newcastle an even better place to live, work and play. 

One significant development is taking place at Eldon Square, the shopping centre at the heart of the city. With a number of big brands shutting their doors in recent years, the Eldon Square management are taking the opportunity to redevelop and re-purpose the empty spaces into leisure and entertainment venues, reviving the centre as a whole.

Meanwhile, for those of you who’ve had a STACK-shaped hole in your life since the Pilgrim Street hub closed, get ready for the next incarnation. Now based at Worswick Chambers – adjacent to the old bus station – the new STACK will include eight bars, seven street food traders, a stage and a big screen and a roof terrace across three floors of this Grade II listed building. (There are also plans for a purpose-built STACK fanzone next to St James Park – watch this space!).

Northumberland Street is going to enjoy a number of improvements, with preparatory work already underway on a series of changes that will reinforce the street’s reputation as a vibrant and forward-thinking feature of the city centre. Plans include improvements to the street’s lighting, paving, greenery and general atmosphere as part of a development from Newcastle City Council. The idea is to make the street a more welcoming and inclusive space - a hub of activity - and the changes are part of a broader series of improvements to the city centre.

Finally, one of the most famous city landmarks is also getting a makeover: The Tyne Bridge is almost a century old and is synonymous with the city. It’s fair to say the bridge hasn’t been looking its best for a while and 2024 will usher in a series of significant refurbishment works that will get the bridge back to its former glory. While navigating the necessary lane closures will present a challenge, we at NE1 couldn't be more excited to see such a legendary local landmark finally getting the restoration it richly deserves.

All in all, 2024 is looking like another brilliant and important year for our city with cultural celebrations, musical gatherings, city-wide happenings and significant improvements taking place across the whole calendar.  And Get Into Newcastle will continue to keep you informed about everything that’s going on, so stay tuned!