Universities

There are two universities — Newcastle University and Northumbria University.
Newcastle University is now one of the UK’s leading international universities, largest for research and won the “Best University” award by The Sunday Times
Northumbria University was voted ‘Best New University’ by The Times and  also won the “Most IT enabled organisation”
Newcastle is one of the first cities in the UK to have its city centre covered by wireless internet access.

Students

Newcastle is home to a large student population with Newcastle and Northumbria Universities in the local area. There are several areas that cater to students but the most popular by far are Jesmond and Sandyford.

Sport

Almost everyone knows about  Newcastle United and St James’ Park now holds more than 52,000. The city also has the Newcastle Falcons who play in the northern suburb of Kingston Park and Newcastle Eagles basketball team who play their home games at the new Sports Central complex at Northumbria University. The  Newcastle Diamonds are based at Brough Park a venue that is also home to greyhound racing. A famous athletic event is the 5.9-mile Blaydon Race which has taken place on 9 June, to commemorate the celebrate the horse racing.

Music

Newcastle has a thriving music scene with many venues including:

• The largest venue is the Metro Radio Arena
• the Newcastle City Hall holds a number of music events every month.
• the O2 Academy Newcastle for a greater variety of bands
• Newcastle Riverside Music Venue.
• The Cluny and The Cumberland Arms are both in the Ouseburn Valley
• Both of the city’s universities also have large performance venues.

Nightlife

The Geordies are renowned worldwide for their friendliness and hospitality and in the Tripadvisor Travellers’ Choice Destination Awards for European Nightlife destinations Newcastle was awarded 3rd Place behind London, and Berlin. Newcastle also came in seventh for the World category.
There are many areas of pubs and restaurants including the Bigg Market, the Quayside, Collingwood Street, Neville Street, the Central Station area,”The Gate” a new indoor complex consisting of bars, upmarket clubs, restaurants and a 12-screen Empire multiplex cinema
The city has a wide variety of restaurants such as
Italian,
Indian,
Persian,
Japanese,
Greek,
Mexican,
Spanish,
American,
Polish,
Malaysian,
French, Mongolian,
Moroccan,
Thai food,
Vietnamese,
Lebanese, and has a
Chinese village with many
Chinese restaurants on Stowell Street.

Festivals and fairs

January/February – Newcastle’s Chinatown celebrates the Chinese New Year.
March – the NewcastleGateshead Comedy Festival
April – the Newcastle Beer Festival, organised by CAMRA
May – Evolution Festival, a music festival held on the Newcastle and Gateshead Quaysides
May – The North East Art Expo, a festival of art and design from the regions professional artists
June – EAT! Newcastle Gateshead, a festival of food and drink
June – The Hoppings, the largest travelling fair in Europe
June – The Northern Rock Cyclone, a cycling festival
July – The ‘Northern Gay Pride’ Festival and Parade is held in the city’s ‘Gay Community’
August – Newcastle Mela, is an annual two-day multicultural event, blending drama, music and food also
September – International Arts Fair in the Norman Foster designed Sage Gateshead Music and Arts Centre
September – the Great North Run – worlds most popular half marathon
October – the Design Event festival, an opportunity to see work by national and international designers
October – The SAMA Festival, an East Asian cultural festival