fbpx
Michael 84

Newcastle Fashion And Lifestyle Blog

Welcome to the Newcastle fashion and lifestyle blog. Situated in the North East of England, Newcastle is my city of vibrant style and culture, and a really cool place to live. Blogging about nights out in the coolest bars in Newcastle, football and life in the Toon.

Top 10 Bars In Newcastle

Wednesday, 2nd December, 2015

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

Alvinos is an amazing bar

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.

Location – 88 Pilgrim St, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 6SG | Twitter | Website

revolution-newcastle-inside1

Revolution

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.

LocationCollingwood St, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 1JF | Twitter | Website

Cookie Monster At Jalou

Jalou

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.

LocationNeville St, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 5DH | Twitter | Website

Tokyo

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.

Location17 Westgate Rd, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 1SE | Twitter | Website

Bonbar Newcastle Bar Review

Bonbar

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.

LocationThe 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-newcastle-bar

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.

LocationThe 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.

Location48 Westgate Rd, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear NE1 1TT

town-wall-bar-newcastle

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.

LocationPink Lane, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 5HX | Twitter | Website

Tiger Hornsby - Top 10 Newcastle Bars

Tiger Hornsby

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.

Location – 8-10 Close, Quayside. NE1 3RE| Twitter | Website

BONUS BAR! For The Beer And Real Ale Enthusiasts

Bacchus

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.

Location42-48 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.


Fenwick Christmas Window Newcastle 2015

Sunday, 15th November, 2015

fenwick-window-newcastle-2015-1

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! :mrgreen:

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:

Fenwick Christmas Window Through The Years

2016 | 2015 | 2014 |  2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010

Fenwick Christmas Window 2015

fenwick-window-newcastle-2015-6

fenwick-window-newcastle-2015-5

fenwick-window-newcastle-2015-4

fenwick-window-newcastle-2015-3

fenwick-window-newcastle-2015-2


An Hour In Tynemouth

Wednesday, 11th November, 2015

tynemouth-day-2

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! :mrgreen: 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.

tynemouth-day-3

tynemouth-day-1

tynemouth-cullercoats-1


Rugby World Cup In Newcastle

Thursday, 8th October, 2015

st-james-park-newcastle-rugby-2015

I love my city! 😛

I’m sure if you live in the UK or rugby crazy parts of the world, then it’s hard to miss that the rugby World Cup is on at the moment. England have just been knocked out, and they’re the first host nation to get knocked out the group stage. I am not a rugby fan, but it’s really cool that Newcastle was chosen as a host city, and has 3 games at St. James’ Park. One has just taken place last weekend, and we have two more to go.

Not only is there people in the stadium, we have a fan park which was full, and apparently has been the busiest fan park in the entire country! I was out on Saturday night and they had the England game on the big screen at the Monument too…The fan park was full!

I was out and about a few days ago so I took a few photos of the city, including the fan park which has a big wheel and a real carnival kind of atmosphere 🙂

newcastle-rugby-st-james-park-1

newcastle-rugby-fanzone-3

newcastle-rugby-fanzone-2

newcastle-rugby-fanzone-1


NE1 Motor Show Newcastle – Part 5 – Racing Cars

Saturday, 11th July, 2015

ne1-motor-show-f1-redbull-5

One of the biggest highlights of the NE1 Motor Show has to be that there was the Red Bull F1 car to be seen, and it looked so good. The only previous time I have seen an F1 car this close was in the Ferrari store in London; They were not welcoming, had horrible security and stopped anyone taking photos. However Red Bull are amazing and nice! You could get up close to the car and take photos too which is what part of the experience is all about. There were other racing cars there too, from Aston Martin and Lotus.

All of the cars and pictures from the NE1 Motor Show

All images are copyright Michael 84 / Michael Adams. Strictly no unauthorised use of any kind

see all the pics below…

Check out the pictures from the 2018 NE1 Motor Show

Read More


NE1 Motor Show Newcastle – Part 4 – Super Cars & Sports Cars

Saturday, 11th July, 2015

aston-martin-newcastle-v8-vantage

One of the highlights of the NE1 Motor Show has got to have been the sports cars and super cars. They were out in force, with some of the best manufacturers and the best models being shown. I saw everything from Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, Porsche and Mercedes; With models such as the Aventador, SLS and Vanquish being there. You don’t need to here it from me, here’s all the pics 😉

All of the cars and pictures from the NE1 Motor Show

All images are copyright Michael 84 / Michael Adams. Strictly no unauthorised use of any kind

More pics below…

Read More


NE1 Motor Show Newcastle – Part 3 – Prestige Cars

Saturday, 11th July, 2015

bmw-i8-3

There were classic cars, sports cars and super cars at the NE1 Motor Show on Grey Street, if you like a bit more prestige then the next thing you’ll be looking at is style and luxury. There was a great selection of luxury and prestige cars, from Aston Martin, Rolls Royce, BMW, Bentley and Mercedes.

All of the cars and pictures from the NE1 Motor Show

All images are copyright Michael 84 / Michael Adams. Strictly no unauthorised use of any kind

Check them all out below…

Read More


NE1 Newcastle Motor Show – Part 2 – Classic Sports Cars

Saturday, 11th July, 2015

classic-ferrari-3

At the NE1 Motor Show there were a lot of the new sports cars and super cars which I love, but then there were also a ton of classic sports cars which take me back to my childhood! Classics from Ferrari and Lamborghini, and how can I forget the Lotus Esprit, the first time I saw this car was from the iconic computer game Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge! :mrgreen: It was like being a kid and playing old computer games like the original Gran Turismo, but seeing these cars all together and up close was pretty spectacular 🙂 The best of British from TVR, Italian Ferraris & Lambos, American Muscle courtesy of Corvette and much, much more.

All of the cars and pictures from the NE1 Motor Show

All images are copyright Michael 84 / Michael Adams. Strictly no unauthorised use of any kind

All the pics below…

Read More


NE1 Newcastle Motor Show – Best Of The Rest

Saturday, 11th July, 2015

ne1-motor-show-newcastle-2

You can check out the rest of the cars and photos I’ve taken at the NE1 Motor Show here. There was a F1 simulator which looked really cool, but I guess the line was really long so I did not bother with even attempting to get on it! 😛 There’s cars from Mill Volvo and Audi’s from Benfield, Nissan GTR, Infiniti Q50 and BMW i3. There’s also a few crowd shots, everyone seemed to have had a really good time at the show, hopefully this will be an annual thing 😉

All of the cars and pictures from the NE1 Motor Show

All images are copyright Michael 84 / Michael Adams. Strictly no unauthorised use of any kind

All the pics are below…

Read More


NE1 Newcastle Motor Show – Part 1 – Classic Cars

Saturday, 11th July, 2015

ne1-motor-show-classic-rolls-royce-1

Today I was out at the NE1 Newcastle Motor Show, and it was an amazing little event. It was a showcase of a huge amount of cars, from car companies, garages, brands and even private collectors brought their pride and joy along with them. It was hosted on Grey Street, not only is this one of Newcastle’s greatest streets, but it was also voted best street in Britain. There’s cars for everyone, from classic cars to retro sports cars, new prestige cars and super cars. Infiniti were there too with a car, and brought along the F1 Red Bull car from 2014.

There were so many cars there I have had to split them up in different posts. Here’s post 1, classic cars.

All of the cars and pictures from the NE1 Motor Show

All images are copyright Michael 84 / Michael Adams. Strictly no unauthorised use of any kind

Check them out below 🙂

Read More