FREE DEC 3-17 2014 WHAT’S ON IN NEWCASTLE www.getintonewcastle.co.uk OH YES IT IS! It’s panto season: Enjoy the show, folks! PLUS: SANTA’S IN TOON + MICHAEL BUBLE + SAGE BIRTHDAY BASH 2 WWW.GETINTONEWCASTLE.CO.UK CONTENTS NE1 magazine is brought to you by NE1 Ltd, the company which champions all that’s great about Newcastle city centre WHAT’S ON IN NE1 04 UPFRONT NE1’s Newcastle Restaurant Week, Lee Mack and much more 08 TRY THIS Things to do in NE1 11 FOCUS First look at the new Hidden Newcastle app 16 14 MUSIC Ukuleles, Kasabian, and Status Quo make their way to Toon 16 PANTOS This year’s festive must-sees 18 SANTA Our guide to spotting 12 20 Santa in Newcastle CHRISTMAS FOOD MICHAEL BUBLE Now is the time to indulge The smoothest man in 22 LISTINGS in some festive food pop swings into Toon Your guide to what’s on in NE1 ©Offstone Publishing 2014. All rights Editor: Jane Pikett reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without the written permission Words: Dean Bailey, Claire Dupree of the publisher. All information contained (listings editor), Emma Howe in this magazine is as far as we are aware, Eugenie Johnson If you wish to submit a listing for inclusion correct at the time of going to press. Offstone Design: Stuart Blackie, Mark Carr please email: [email protected] Publishing cannot accept responsibility for For advertising call 01661 844 115 or errors or inaccuracies in such information. email [email protected] Offstone Publishing endeavours to respect the intellectual property of owners of Produced by Offstone Publishing copyrighted material reproduced herein. If on behalf of NE1 you identify yourself as the copyright holder of material we have wrongly attributed, please When you have finished with contact the office. this magazine please recycle it Unit One, Bearl Farm, Stocksfield, NE43 7AL, ADVERTISING Follow us @newcastleNE1 www.offstonepublishing.co.uk Tel 01661 844 115 01661 844115 Email [email protected] [email protected] Like us /GetIntoNewcastle Twitter @offstonepublish WWW.GETINTONEWCASTLE.CO.UK 3 UPFRONT WORD ON THE STREET The next time you wander up High Bridge, keep your eyes peeled and you’ll spot a new piece of street art WE’RE THE TOPS on the side of the We knew it already, you knew it already, and now Duke of Wellington, courtesy of the rest of the world appears to have caught on Brazilian artist Manoel Quiterio. The to the fact that Newcastle is one amazing city. work is supported by ¡VAMOS! Festival Readers of The Guardian’s Travel section have and follows other popular pieces around delcared the Toon their top UK city. This is no the city in the last 12 months. surprise to those of us who love our city’s busy vamosfestival.com streets, its Quayside, its famously warm welcome, its vast range of shops, places to eat, things to do and Historic White places to go, and its vibrant atmosphere. How has it Hart Yard is set taken readers of The Guardian so long to catch on? to be turned into a new destination offering bars, MACK HITS THE ROAD food destinations, Continuing the City Hall’s superb run of comedians, and spaces for Lee Mack, star of Not Going Out and Would I Lie To pop-up events by Ladhar Leisure, You, heads to Newcastle on his first tour in four years. owner of city venues including The The Hit The Road Mack tour features the comic’s Redhouse and Hop and Cleaver. The trademark banter familiar to fans of telly shows like Have development is inspired by London’s I Got News For You, QI, and Duck Quacks Don’t Echo. uber-cool Shoreditch and Dalston and He’s been nominated for several awards and won the includes 30,000sqft of Grade I spaces. prestigious British Comedy Award Best Male Television Comic in 2012 and 2013, so he’s worth a look. The show The Grey Street also features support from the fiendishly funny Mike Gunn. Hotel is City Hall, December 18, £27.50 celebrating its www.newcastlecityhall.org 10th birthday by offering 10 people the chance to win an overnight stay for two with a range of VIP perks including a bottle of Prosecco, chocolates, flowers, a fruit platter and © Mitch Gunn / Shutterstock.com © Mitch : robes. To enter, visit the website, log on to facebook.com/Grey-Street-Hotel or head over to @GreyStreetHotel on Twitter. www.greystreethotel.co.uk IMAGE CREDITS IMAGE 4 WWW.GETINTONEWCASTLE.CO.UK UPFRONT NE1’S NEWCASTLE RESTAURANT WEEK The next NE1’s Newcastle Restaurant Week runs January 19-25 2015, when you will get to eat from fantastic fixed price menus in some of Newcastle’s best restaurants and bistros for just £10 or £15 per head. INTO THE BIZARRE NE1’s Newcastle Restaurant Week has We imagine an evening with madcap comedian grown in popularity since its launch in 2011 and Noel Fielding to be a surreal affair, possibly participating businesses now experience a 44% entailing talking to animals and flamboyant increase in trade during the week. In January costumes. And that’s pretty much what’s on 2014, 25,000 people took advantage of the offer at the City Hall with Fielding’s first live offers, equating to more than £350,000 worth of tour in five years. business for the restaurants which took part. The Never Mind The Buzzcocks team captain Newcastle’s restaurant scene is one of the is supported by his brother Mike Fielding (who city’s largest growth business sectors with more played shaman Naboo in Mighty Boosh and butler restaurants per square mile than anywhere Smooth in Luxury Comedy) and Tom Meetan, else in the North East. New restaurants have whose physical comedy verges on lunacy. Bizarre! transformed parts of the city including Grey City Hall, December 5, £25 Street and the Quayside over the last couple www.newcastlecityhall.org of years, with home-grown talent and national brands encouraging foodies into the city. For 2015, Newcastle College’s flagship Chefs’ Academy restaurant has been added to the 70-strong list of venues for the first time. For a list of participating restaurants and offers, visit www.getintonewcastle. co.uk/restaurantweek Offers go live from December 22. Tweet us using #NE1RestaurantWeek COULD IT BE MAGIC? Tickets are on sale now for the NE1-sponsored First Utility Super League Magic Weekend which is at St James’ Park on May 30-31 2015 and is set to be the most popular Magic Weekend to date, with more than 10,000 tickets sold within six days - a record for the event. The weekend features a full round of six Super League fixtures played over two days, with games including a Hull derby and a big-name clash between Leeds Rhinos and Wigan Warriors on Saturday evening. For a full list of fixtures and to book tickets go to the website. St James’ Park, May 30-31 www.rugbyleaguetickets.co.uk WWW.GETINTONEWCASTLE.CO.UK 5 UPFRONT I’M READING GAIL BRAILSFORD, 58 SALES ASSISTANT, NEWCASTLE I recently read the new book by Jojo Moyes, The One Plus One; a lovely story of a single mum and a man who comes into her family’s life. It was fab. MARK WILKINSON, 32 ECOLOGIST, NEWCASTLE I’m just finishing A Year in Tibet by Sun Shuyun, which I’ve had lying on my shelf for a while. It’s very interesting - a good representation of Communism and how it wipes out other cultures. GEOFFREY PARKIN, 63 GET ELFY! RETIRED, NEWCASTLE We all know that Santa’s job is a toughie, so if your little At the minute I’m helpers are getting under your feet, send them to Saint fascinated by reading Nick at this year’s Elf Run. things to do with The whole family is encouraged to join in the unique 1km World War One but indoor fun run around intu Eldon Square to deliver presents recently I also read a and raise money for children’s charities. Don your elf suit and book that was about enjoy a magical experience full of fun and laughter and get soldiers’ experiences in Afghanistan. I ‘elfy’ into the bargain! Money raised will be donated to The find those books are always a Sick Children’s Trust, The Children’s Heart Foundation and fascinating read. Global’s Make Some Noise entertainment charity. intu Eldon Square, December 7, £10, www.elfrun.co.uk 6 WWW.GETINTONEWCASTLE.CO.UK UPFRONT PICK OF THE FLICKS, 1914 The cinema experience of 100 years ago offered a sociable, lively and exciting form of entertainment featuring a combination of short items with live musical accompaniment, and a much-needed diversion from daily life. Settle in with some tasty First World War-themed treats and allow Discovery Museum to transport you back to the early days of cinema with a special compilation from the British Film Institute that recreates the mix of screenings audiences would have experienced in 1914. Enjoy a comic short about a face- pulling competition, a sensational episode of The Perils of Pauline, scenes of Allied troops celebrating Christmas at the Front, and an early sighting of one of cinema’s greatest icons. Discovery Museum, December 10, free www.twmuseums.org.uk TAKE A STAND If the thought of spending several days HAPPY BIRTHDAY in close confines with your family Sage Gateshead celebrates its 10th horrifies you, fear not… Stand birthday this month with a big party. Comedy Club’s Christmas Special Beverley Knight brings her heavenly shows provide all the festive vocals to Hall One (Dec 16); Inspiration merriment you need.