Yuletime on Tyne and Wear!
Christmas in Newcastle is best enjoyed with a local twist. Christmas dinner, presents, stockings, tree and jingle bells should still all be part of it, sure, but to add spice and flavour to your Christmas in this great city don’t reach for the cinnamon, simply look local.
Newcastle has a great heritage of stories, food and drink all passionately produced (and consumed) locally.
This rich tradition also feeds into the spectacle of Christmas time on Tyneside.
Everyone would like their Christmas to be a little bit special and different from the rest of their year, starting with what to eat and drink: mulled wine is stirred, tangerines sit in the fruit bowl and mince pies fill bellies for a fortnight.
Everyone would like their Christmas to be a little bit special and different from the rest of their year, starting with what to eat and drink: mulled wine is stirred, tangerines sit in the fruit bowl and mince pies fill bellies for a fortnight.
To bring a local flavour to your home, why not fill your cheeseboard with produce from the Northumberland Cheese Company based in Blagdon on the edge of Newcastle?You can serve your guests a range of sheep, goat’s and cow’s cheese, plain, oak smoked or with Garlic, Chives and even Chilli from their locally sourced range of delightful cheeses including local brands Redesdale, Kielder, Reiver and Elsdon.
The Northumberland Cheese Company Limited
The Cheese Farm
Green Lane
Blagdon
Northumberland
NE13 6BZ
Tel: 01670 789798
To accompany our feasts over Yuletide, if we are honest, most of us like a little drink, even Granny gets involved (for medicinal purposes only, mind), and in Newcastle upon Tyne, you can support our strong culture of locally produced goods by looking towards Wallsend to make your Christmas special.
Mordue Brewery, as well as producing great Tyneside ale throughout the year, gets festive at Christmas time to provide Geordies and visitors alike with well brewed seasonal and warming ale.These include the classics ‘Howay in a Manger’ and ‘Headmaster’s Christmas Sermon’.
Mordue Brewery
D1/D2 Narvik Way
Tyne Tunnel Trading Estate
North Shields
Tyne & Wear
NE29 7XJ
Tel: 0191 296 1879
Pubs where you can enjoy these great Christmas ales include:
The County on Gosforth High Street, which is generally open on Christmas day
The Crown Pasada, containing a beautiful Victorian interior welcoming you into this cosy boozer
The Bodega with its beautifully tiled floors and stained glass domes
and The Bacchus, a tribute to Tyneside’s shipbuilding heritage
All perfect places for December retreats and Christmas evenings, warming yourself with local food, beer and stories!The Crown Pasada, containing a beautiful Victorian interior welcoming you into this cosy boozer
The Bodega with its beautifully tiled floors and stained glass domes
and The Bacchus, a tribute to Tyneside’s shipbuilding heritage
If you’re lucky you may even hear the local tale of the Geordie Nativity. You may not think on first reading, that the story of Mary and Joseph following the star to Bethlehem from Nazareth has much in common with the North East, but we are an embracing lot and have discovered a link between that very tale and the City on the Tyne.
Mary and Joseph were in fact following the Blue Star (of Newcastle Breweries – see top!) from Nazareth (Washington) along a winding road (The A1) to Bethlehem (Newcastle).
Now, anyone who makes this journey in the rush hour will know how arduous it really is and no less a struggle with a Donkey all those years ago, but this is what happened.
At least this is how it all happened in the mind of local folk musician and story teller Jonny Handle.
For a heartfelt, hilarious and Geordie take on the nativity story seek out one of his gigs over Christmas and you won’t be disappointed. Told sympathetically, it brings a great and famous story alive with local places and characteristics.
The Bridge Hotel (also serving Mordue Ales), next to the High Level Bridge in Newcastle, often hosts this local musician at its folk nights and if it is December you may well hear him for yourself.
The Bridge Hotel
Castle Garth
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 1RQ
Tel: 0191 232 6400
The Bridge Hotel (also serving Mordue Ales), next to the High Level Bridge in Newcastle, often hosts this local musician at its folk nights and if it is December you may well hear him for yourself.
The Bridge Hotel
Castle Garth
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 1RQ
Tel: 0191 232 6400
So Christmas in Newcastle is the same as everywhere else, really: you have food and drink, nativity stories and gatherings in cosy pubs with friends and families and fun.
But as always, with Tyneside making it local, always makes it a bit special.
But as always, with Tyneside making it local, always makes it a bit special.