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Newcastle

Bluewine

By Bluewine,
in General Discussion

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acidbass Mentor

acidbass

Posted
Posted

Newcastle is great. The Geordies are such a warm and welcoming bunch of people with a great wit and sense of humour. There's a great football team there too which it seems 99% of the city follow intently. One of my favourite cities in the UK for sure.

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Chris2112 Veteran

Chris2112

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Great town but dangerous, full of violent yobs and drunken idiots. It is well renowned for it's nightlife but like most things, it ain't what it used to be. By the standards of most places in the UK it's one of the better nights out, if not the best overall, particularly because all of the nightlife in the city centre is fairly densely packed in. You don't have to go far to see a lot. 

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Bluewine Grand Master

Bluewine

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2 hours ago, Chris2112 said:

Great town but dangerous, full of violent yobs and drunken idiots. It is well renowned for it's nightlife but like most things, it ain't what it used to be. By the standards of most places in the UK it's one of the better nights out, if not the best overall, particularly because all of the nightlife in the city centre is fairly densely packed in. You don't have to go far to see a lot. 

 

 

I'm thinking it's expensive to live in Newcastle.

 

Blue

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Cat Burrito Grand Master

Cat Burrito

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21 minutes ago, Bluewine said:

 

 

I'm thinking it's expensive to live in Newcastle.

 

Blue

Comparatively the North is a lot cheaper. The South East is horrific but the North is starting to catch up. My Mum grew up in the Newcastle area and I bought my first instrument there, purely because it was so much cheaper up there than down here. I have played it a few times in recent years and absolutely love it. Trillians and Think Tank are the venues i have played and the hotels are always the cheapest on tour. They are also home to "Greggs" which is staple "on tour" food. In terms of it being violent, yeah, a few idiots will fight but that is no different to any UK town. Generally that is not the circles I move in and I have always been blown away by how friendly the North East is. Lots of beautiful places to visit nearby too. I do think as an outsider you may struggle with the accent. I am used to it because of my mother and her family but I toured with both an American and a European band who struggled at times. 

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lownote Mentor

lownote

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True Newcastle story.  I (short bald fat unhealthy looking guy of late middle age) was up on business from the South. As I tottered miserably out the rail station heading for my hotel, coming the other way on the sidewalk/ pavement were three girls, happy, laughing, not drunk - this was mid afternoon. As they passed me one of the girls grabbed my ears, turned my head down like Snow White does to Dopey in the movie, and planted a kiss on my bald pate.  Then they waltzed on, still laughing.  I fell deeply and permanently in love with the Geordie character from that point onwards.   

Edited by lownote
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Fishfacefour Grand Master

Fishfacefour

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Lived in Newcastle for 16 years but moved to Glasgow 10 years ago. 

Newcastle is one of the friendliest places I have ever been. There is an openness and generosity of spirit that I haven't found anywhere else. 

The music scene (and that of neighbouring Sunderland) is fiercely independent and everyone just gets on with it. Every so often the London media take notice and there is a couple of articles hyping things, then everyone gets back to making stuff, putting on gigs and records. 

If I could move back there I would. 

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Muzz Veteran

Muzz

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One of my favourite Night Out cities in the country...my Mum lived in the North East most of her life, I have very fond memories of being up there, and when I was old enough to go on my own steam (motorbike and then car), I was out all I could, to places like the Broken Doll, Trillians and the Mayfair. We have a week's holiday further North (Alnmouth way) every year, and any excuse to go into the city is good for me. Not expensive compared to much of the UK, either.

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Huge Hands Experienced

Huge Hands

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I really wanted to get involved in this conversation as I was born and raised just 5 miles south of Newcastle and spent most of my weekends wandering the town but have just realised I haven't lived there permanently for around 28 years!

 

I have plenty of nostalgia for the area and images of the Tyne bridge still stir huge patriotic and homesick vibes in me, but have no recent knowledge other than what my family briefly tell me.

 

I used to go up there regularly but poor health has kept me away - I am hoping to take a trip up there around Easter as my parents are getting much more frail.

 

Of course I would recommend it.  I would just say to Blue that the Geordie accent can be very strong and sometimes sound like a completely foreign language if you're not used to it!     

 

If you get the chance, try Greggs' stottie cake (bread) while you are there.  It is a revelation and not sure why Greggs never took it across the UK when they expanded.

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Cosmo Valdemar Grand Master

Cosmo Valdemar

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Back in my touring days (15-odd years ago) I always looked forward to going to Newcastle. We used to play Trillians and always had a great crowd.

I never had any concern walking around the town after dark.

I hated playing Leeds though, for reasons I can't quite fathom... I think it was the haircuts.

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Muzz Veteran

Muzz

Posted
Posted (edited)
20 minutes ago, Huge Hands said:

I would just say to Blue that the Geordie accent can be very strong and sometimes sound like a completely foreign language if you're not used to it!     

Hahahaa, this, definitely. When I was a teenager, there was an extended family kinda do up there (Chester-Le-Street), and an old great-uncle of someone's was sat in a corner (by the buffet, he wasn't daft)...this fella was very proud he'd never been outside Tyneside other than when he went on the Jarrow March in '36, and even though I'd been around Geordies (and Mackems) a good deal, I couldn't understand more than one phrase in ten*... 🙂

 

* We were as linguistically at odds as the time I walked into a barbers in a small town in Cambodia to get a haircut (I was overheating all the time, and I'd figured a short Do would be cooler (temperature-wise)), and the only thing we could communicate on were the words (he suggested) 'David Beckham'. I nodded in desperation, and he gave me a mohawk... 🙁🙂

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Piers_Williamson Mentor

Piers_Williamson

Posted
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What a great thread (other than the bit about Leeds...as a Londoner I went to college in Leeds because people were massively more friendly than London).  Newcastle is massively friendly for a Southerner if you accept them on their terms (not hard).  Grainger Town is a revelation (Looks like Bath) and the countryside is properly beautiful.  

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Huge Hands Experienced

Huge Hands

Posted
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52 minutes ago, Muzz said:

Hahahaa, this, definitely. When I was a teenager, there was an extended family kinda do up there (Chester-Le-Street), and an old great-uncle of someone's was sat in a corner (by the buffet, he wasn't daft)...this fella was very proud he'd never been outside Tyneside other than when he went on the Jarrow March in '36, and even though I'd been around Geordies (and Mackems) a good deal, I couldn't understand more than one phrase in ten*... 🙂

I'm originally from Birtley, the next town up from Chester-le-Street.  My grandparents lived in Chester-le -Street, so often used to cycle between the two to visit. 

 

My great-grandfather (who died before I was born) had been a specialist in old geordie dialect/folklore and used to tour the north east in the 1930's - 1950s doing recitals.  I believe he even did some local radio.  Just before my grandparents died, we found some of his old notes in their house and none of us could understand much of it - amazing how it had all evolved over the centuries.

 

I also remember whilst at University in the Midlands, I took my coursemate (who was a local Derby lad) up home as I was getting some welding done on my van by one of my Dad's mates.  My dad's mate was from Seaham/Murton way.  He was a bit of a character and hilarious and was cracking jokes all day and I was falling about laughing.  As we left, I mentioned to my coursemate that I found it odd he didn't seem to find much of the welder's repertoire funny.  He replied "I didn't understand a word of it" - my dad's mate had a heavy Sunderland accent.

 

I translated all the way back to Derby and this time my mate was rolling around in the van like I had been!  

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warwickhunt Grand Master

warwickhunt

Posted
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Newcastle/North expensive... you're having a larf surely?  :)

 

If you want to live in certain areas around the outskirts/suburbs of Newcastle you can pay top dollar for property or head out to Darras Hall and join the millionaire football elite brigade (still several million cheaper than the South) but there are loads of nice areas with housing that is 100's of thousands cheaper than comparable homes elsewhere!  

 

Newcastle - 7 miles from the coast and 20 miles from areas of coastal outstanding beauty.  10 miles to 'open' countryside.  50 miles from the countries only dark skies location, Scottish borders, Cheviot hills... blah blah blah

 

Just don't say you're a Mackem!  ;)  

 

@LukeFRC visited recently and he hated it... maybe.

 

 

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lowdown Grand Master

lowdown

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I've worked in Newcastle on various shows over the years and have always had a great time there. The people are great and I still have a few Geordie musician friends to this day.

 

In London, back in the 80's, my flatmate was a Guitarist (from the Byker area) and he had studied music at CAT before moving down to London.

I used to travel up there quite a lot with him for social shenanigans. Rockshots (Formerly Scamps, I think) and The Broken Doll were two of my favourite haunts.

Christ, they were right old places...🤣

 

I have nothing but great memories of the place. Particularly a certain mad, Geordie vocalist girlfriend, I was with during that period.

:D

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casapete Grand Master

casapete

Posted
Posted (edited)
12 hours ago, warwickhunt said:

Newcastle/North expensive... you're having a larf surely?  :)

 

If you want to live in certain areas around the outskirts/suburbs of Newcastle you can pay top dollar for property or head out to Darras Hall and join the millionaire football elite brigade (still several million cheaper than the South) but there are loads of nice areas with housing that is 100's of thousands cheaper than comparable homes elsewhere!  

 

Newcastle - 7 miles from the coast and 20 miles from areas of coastal outstanding beauty.  10 miles to 'open' countryside.  50 miles from the countries only dark skies location, Scottish borders, Cheviot hills... blah blah blah

 

Just don't say you're a Mackem!  ;)  

 

@LukeFRC visited recently and he hated it... maybe.

 

 

Absolutely this ^^^^^

 

Love Newcastle and all the areas around it. We play at The City Hall every year, and it's one of my favourite venues. For a theatre band like mine it feels like a 'proper' gig! The tech / crew guys there are fab, really friendly and with that great Geordie humour. Also have so many memories of going to gigs there myself - Springsteen in particular in 80/81?

 

A few years ago I got a job to be part of a strolling jazz band in a BBC TV documentary hosted by Matt Allright. We had to play as Matt entered the council buildings in to award the council an 'award' for being the drinking capital of the UK (or something like that - was a while ago!)  We all got ejected by security at the building who were really nice guys and laughed as they did their job. Of course we ended up doing a few pubs ourselves with Matt who it turned out was in a band and a thoroughly decent chap - got a picture of him playing my mini-bass somewhere! Through all this, the people we encountered were great, very friendly and welcoming.

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