A guide for the modern gent who likes good living. You'll find tech, travel, cars, TV, music and everything else all us guys are interested in. Whether it's watches, the best TV and films or tech, if it's to do with life and it's popular, it's here.
As you know I visited the beautiful city of Copenhagenjust before Christmas for a short break, and loved the city. I stayed in The Square hotel, which is a 4 star hotel located very central, in Rådhuspladsen.
I was looking around for a couple of week’s to find a hotel, and I found this one pretty fast. I did search for other hotels, but after contemplating a few things which I will go into below, I settled for The Square, and I am fairly happy I did 🙂
2015 has been a cool year for my lifestyle blog at Michael 84. There’s been a few cool things which has happened in 2015 which I have covered on the blog.
From natural phenomenon to a plain old great night out, I have covered quite a bit over the past 12 months on the blog. Here’s a look back at just a couple of things in Lifestyle which I’ve loved.
Take Me Out is back, so in the words of Paddy McGuiness: Bring on the girls!
Series 8 will start in January 2016 to kick start the new year with the flirty thirty being beamed into your living room for you usual Saturday night viewing. Saturday nights aren’t the same without Paddy, the girls and the love lift, and ITV2’s Take Me Out: The Gossip also returns with Mark Wright and Laura Jackson. Michael 84 wouldn’t be a men’s blog if it didn’t cover this, so you’ll find more right here.
Enough of that, you want to meet the girls right? Here you go!
Ever since I started writing my Newcastle Bar reviews I have had an amazing response from local people who go out every weekend, and those who live outside the city, some even the country, on what bars are the best, which they should go to, and which bars in Newcastle would I recommend. But what makes a good bar? If you ask 10 people in Newcastle, you’re likely to get different answers. That’s because Newcastle has a hugely diverse drinking scene; The more popular of recent years has been the Diamond Strip, but there’s also The Gate, The Quayside, The Bigg Market, Grey Street area, The Central Station and more. There’s also different styles of bars too, from pubs to cocktail bars and late night music bars, traditional party bars and modern gastro late night establishments.
This is my take on the top 10 bars in Newcastle, and they all have to meet a certain criteria. First of all the drinks; It’s why we’re there in the first place. Do they have a good range, and do they do them well? Then there’s the price, is it worth the money? The style of the venue is next, and of course customer service and staff is paramount, nobody wants to go out for a good time and be met with horrible staff. So here they are, the best bars in Newcastle, in no particular order.
Top 10 Bars In Newcastle
Alvino
Why? – Alvino is a cool, chilled out place in Newcastle, on Pilgrim Street which is not overrun by people, and although it can get really busy at peak times, you’re unlikely to have to queue. They play a mix of cool background style music, there’s a good selection of drinks including cocktails and beers. I really like the layout of the place, over 2 floors there’s plenty of seating, then there’s the terrace. This is super cool and a great place to go and chill on a Summer night.
Why?Revolution sell alcohol, and when I mean alcohol, I mean they don’t skimp on it. Their specialities are cocktails, pitchers of cocktails and racks of shots, and when you buy one, you get exactly what you want. If you’ve ever had a cocktail in here you’ll know it, because you can taste the alcohol, unlike some places in the town which you have to wonder where the alcohol actually is. They do sharing pitchers, you can get a rack of vodka shots which they do a huge range including plenty you’ll not find anywhere else. The building, a former bank, is amazing, there’s simply nothing like it in Newcastle. The music is good, and there’s a nice mix of people too.
Why?Jalou specialise in cocktails, but they are cocktails with a difference, and they’re so good too. They do the Cookie Monster and Poppin Candy, both really nice and you’ll not find these anywhere else in Newcastle. The music is good, there’s a bit of a dance floor if you like to dance, booths and seating areas inside, a seating area outside, and there’s also a nice selection of the usual alcohol you’d expect to see in any bar. Free entry, it’s a late bar open until 2AM at the weekends, with last entry at 1AM.
Why? Tokyo is another cool cocktail bar in the town, with quite a small bar on the ground floor which is usually good to just chill, with a bit of random house music usually being played by the DJ. Upstairs is where the place really opens out, literally. The small bar area is met with quite a grand terrace, perfect in the summer, and also not bad in the Winter with the heaters on too. They seem to be selling a bigger range of the usual bar drinks you’d expect to find in a bar along with their cocktails. It can take a little bit of time to get served here on occasions, which is a slight let down.
Why?Bonbar is a newer bar, located in the Old Assembly Rooms. It’s geared up towards more of a late night crowd, with good music and plenty of drinks. When you go in you’re greeted with the bar right down the middle of the room, with plenty of seating and cool booths all around. It looks and feels quite grand, with an outdoor area to relax and chill, and a VIP room called the 467 Club if you want to spend a fortune in peace. You won’t want to, the main room is cool and you can spend a few hours here with friends, and it’s open until 4AM.
Location – The Assembly Rooms, Fenkle St, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 5XU | Twitter | Website
The Quayside Bar
Why? As the name suggests, The Quayside Bar is right on the Quay which is a really nice location in Newcastle. There’s a huge courtyard at the front with seating, great for the summer and there’s plenty of tables and seating around the back with views overlooking the River Tyne. Inside there’s a couple of small nooks to chill out with your friends in, so you’re covered in terms of space. It’s a Wetherspoons pub, so it’s not expensive, and a great bar to start in down the Quayside.
Location – 35-37 The Close. Quayside | Twitter | Website
Tiger Tiger
Why? When Tiger Tiger is fully open, it’s huge. There’s the whole downstairs which is big in itself, with brand new VIP style seating. You’ll find 7 different rooms over three floors, the place has everything you could want and more; With an 80’s themed room complete with disco ball, VIP karaoke, pop, and beyond the curtain is what we used to call the club, now called the white room. If you want a taste of every kind of club under one roof, this is the place. You can be here for hours and you won’t get bored.
Location – The Gate, Newgate St, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 5RE | Twitter | Website
Union Rooms
Why? The Union Rooms is a Wetherspoons pub, which means it’s cheap, but it’s far from nasty. In fact it’s nice, it’s usually always busy, and they do a large selection of drinks. It’s close to the Central Station and close to so many bars, which makes it a perfect meeting bar.
Location – 48 Westgate Rd, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear NE1 1TT
The Town Wall
Why? The Town Wall, aka The Toon Waal is a bar for friends. It’s like your traditional local pub, but it’s a large city centre bar, with large seating areas and a smaller snug style room. There’s an extensive list of beers including their own Toon Waal Ale, as well as all the drinks you’d expect to find in a pub.
Why? Tiger Hornsby has a bit of history to it; I remember when this was Julies 2, Newcastle Quayside was the cool place to drink, and this establishment was the place to go. I never actually went when the bar was Julies 2, since I was only 17 😉 It became Blue and I loved the place, we went all the time, probably not enough, and then it closed. It is now back, with a cool, more chilled out vibe, while keeping that Saturday night feeling.
Why? The Bacchus is a favourite among beer drinkers and has been voted the best bar in Newcastle on numerous occasions, primarily because of the sheer number of beers they have available, from all over the world including the best name for a beer, Hadouken! (Yes, it lends it’s name from Street Fighter). If beer isn’t your thing they do a large selection of spirits, so there’s plenty on offer for everyone. It’s another bar to go to with your friends, sit down with some good alcohol and chill in a grown up setting.
Location – 42-48 High Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 1EW
That concludes the Top 10 bars in Newcastle. I have included the best of all worlds; From the best cocktail bars Newcastle has to offer, to the establishments which take beer to a new level. There’s places to party and let your hair down, and neighbourhood style bars in the middle of the city to relax in with your friends. Remember if you’re looking for a bar crawl, you can try my Newcastle Diamond Strip Bar Crawl, which will definitely give you a great night out 🙂 If you’re a guy, remember to check out my what to wear on a night out guide, which will give you some tips on how to dress when out in Newcastle. Newcastle has well over 100 bars just in the city centre, so condensing them down to a top 10 is obviously no easy task, and there’s plenty of other brilliant establishments which aren’t featured here.
A Stag Do is all about that last night of freedom, out with the lads for one last big night. However the stag night is now changing, we used to have a big night, and now we’re having big weekend’s away, some are even going away for a week for their stag do. Going away for the weekend means packing, so you need to know what you’ll need to take with you and make sure you don’t forget anything.
Here is my handy checklist and essential guide to how you should prepare for a weekend away.
The other day I got this box from Adidas, and I was as excited as a child!
Adidas launched the new kits for all their international teams, including my team, Spain. I went down to the Adidas store a couple of weeks ago on launch day, but they only had the standard home shirt in, and I wanted to get the Adizero version this time round. I’ve had the players editions before, last time I did not bother because I bought a standard top, so this time I decided I would only get the players edition, so had to wait for the delivery, and they finally came!
If you’ve been reading my blog since day 1 you’ll know that I always buy the Spain shirts, and when I say I buy them, I get virtually as many as I can! 😛 Being a Spain fan in the UK has been tough, it’s always been a challenge to get some of the shirts, especially things like the goalkeeper shirts which Adidas don’t usually market in the UK; Last time round they did one which I got, and had to send off to the USA for the other (which cost a fortune plus duty & import tax!!). I’ve bought direct from Spain a few times which always costs a lot more plus lots of shipping, so this time round I was so happy that Adidas UK are finally selling a lot of Spain gear in the UK 🙂
Of course that means that I bought a lot…A hell of a lot! I got the Adizero home shirt, the standard away shirt, and the standard goalkeeper shirts, both home and away. I got the ‘keeper shirts with printing, and of course it had to be no.1 Casillas as I’ve had on my previous few shirts. I got a training top too, and I have a further two training tops which I have given to my mam to put away for me for Christmas 😛
Official Home Spain 2016 Shirt Adizero Players Edition
The Adizero players version is a lighter shirt, with a vented back, a better, tighter fit and the badges are heal seals rather than embroidered.
Spain 2016 Away Shirt
The away shirt looks like a weird quirky design, but it comes together when you understand the story behind it. It’s a heat map of Fernando Torres when he scored the winning goal in the final of Euro 2008. I didn’t really like this design before I knew that, but now I do it’s growing on me more and more. It’s now iconic, and everyone remembers Fernando Torres for that winning goal 🙂
Spain 2016 Home Goalkeeper Shirt
The home goalkeeper shirt is a really nice blue with pin striping, and dark blue trim and sleeves. I got a number 1 and Casillas printed on the shirt, as I’ve done for several years now. The number is perforated and a different style to the away number which is odd. It’s a similar colour to the previous one.
Spain 2016 Away Goalkeeper Shirt
The away goalkeeper shirt is yellow and blue and I love it! The colours work really well, and has the diamond pattern on the shoulders as seen on all the other shirts. Once again I went for the number 1 and Casillas print, as mentioned this is a different style number to the home shirt, it’s sort of a block with speckled paint effects within it.
Spain 2016 Blue Training Shirt
I love this colour blue! The picture does not really do it justice, and a lot of the training gear is this colour. This is the royal blue training top, an Adizero shirt which means it’s a really good fit, and has vented perforations in the back the same as the official home shirt does.
If you live in Newcastle you’ll know all about the Fenwick Christmas window tradition. Each Christmas the window is dressed up in a Christmas or themed way, and is always a must see for everyone in Newcastle. Last year it was Alice In Wonderland, and this year’s window was unveiled last Friday. This year the window is a traditional Christmas scene, with a story about Santa’s sleigh crash landing on the roof of Fenwick.
This has been a Fenwick tradition for years, and also a tradition here on my blog, Michael 84 😀 What kind of Newcastle Lifestyle Blogger would I be without the Fenwick window featured on it! 😛
p.s. Sorry about the quality of the pictures, I will try to replace them with better ones if I can. It was daytime and I had to battle with families and small children!
If you’ve missed out on all the previous ones, you can see all the ones I have covered right here on the blog below:
After a few weeks of rumours and kit leaks, Adidas has officially unveiled the new Spain shirt which is designed for Euro 2016 in the summer. I have seen these pictures, and I am unsure what to make of it at the moment.
It’s a lighter red design than the last one, and is a more traditional red colour as they’ve had before. It has triangular patterns, which is supposed to represent the way Spain plays football, a geometrical formation.
One of the great things about living in the North East is that we have so much great stuff! We have Newcastle, the city, where I live. There’s the day life, shopping, eateries, scenery and plenty to do, with some of the best nightlife in the UK which you will all know about if you’re a regular reader of my blog 😉 Then to the South about 20 minutes drive we have the Metro Centre, the biggest indoor shopping centre in Europe! Yes, Europe, and it’s in the North East of England…Not Paris, not London, the North East! Since we’re close to the coastline we have some great beaches too, and three seaside towns in a row, namely Tynemouth, Cullercoats and Whitley Bay. I was doing some photos at the beach for an upcoming blog feature, suede jackets in Autumn, so I decided to share a couple of pics of Tynemouth.
There’s a few beaches, including King Edwards Bay which is a Blue Flag beach. I walked along from Tynemouth to Cullercoats and took a few snaps. I was only there for a short time so I only took a few pics…In the future I may feature all three places in more detail; They’re all such cool little seaside towns 🙂
The great thing about it is all three are so close together, so you can easily walk through them all…They’re also all on the Metro line, so you can walk to/from each place or jump on the Metro to get from the centre of Newcastle to any of the three places.
Why is everyone obsessed with travelling? At least, that’s how it can seem sometimes.
But I actually think travelling is overrated. Not going places, not having holidays, but the travelling itself, and everything about it.
Let me explain…
For a couple of years now I have said I wanted to do one thing; Travel to different places. My aim is to go abroad at least once a year…If you are a frequent traveller or one of these who thinks jet-setting is the meaning of life, or you use the word ‘nomad’, that will not seem very ambitious.
Why I Hate Travelling
If you love holidays and love to experience new things then you’ll wonder how someone can even ponder not liking to travel. The end result of it all is almost always great, but it’s the build-up, the preparation and tedious planning which is something I hate.
