h'way the toon: Newcastle's burgeoning cultural scene
Newcastle Upon Tyne is a city inundated with stereotypes. There’s it's dazzlingly wild and raucous nightlife to it's absurd number of Greggs serving sausage rolls and steak bakes. It’s a place whose name is synonymous with football. On game day, we turn the Toon into a parade of black and white stripes. The unapologetically loyal league of Magpies will flock into The Trent House two to three hours before kick-off to take to their pre-ordained seats. The conversation flows but will always resort back to reminiscing about the good old days when Shearer wore the number 9 on his back and to 1955 when the Geordies last took home the FA cup.
However, for all its stotties and great ales, one thing Newcastle has never claimed to be is a gastronomic hub.
That’s where Ouseburn comes in. A place which was once the industrial heart of Newcastle, a place coined and celebrated as the cradle of the revolution. It was here that coal was transported to the Quayside to be wherried out onto the Tyne. When the Victoria Tunnel became an air raid shelter in the Second World War, the red-buff brick buildings and large steel-exposed warehouses became derelict and abandoned for many years thereafter.
No one would have hazarded a guess that a good few years down the line, Ouseburn would become a stomping ground for creatives, a place positively teeming with restaurants, breweries and galleries. Now, we can pop into the neighbourhood bustle that is Northern Rye and feast our hungry eyes and bellies on a freshly baked loaf of sourdough. What’s a queue when a spiced pumpkin and maple custard Danish is in store? Chat with fellow bread fiends and pick up a few Northern Pasta Co. boxes of rigatoni from the bakery deli. Come Christmas time the croissants are replaced with boozy bundles of apple and cranberry mince pies. The gleaming metal shelves of dough and the crispy, golden buttery delights will be within reach in minutes.
Follow the winding Riverside Path to find Northern Print, a gallery and teaching space of contemporary printmaking. There’s the 1870-built warehouse which is now home to the largest commercial art, craft and design gallery in the UK, The Biscuit Factory. Or there’s Cobalt Studios. A space that fuses creativity, community and free expression through numerous events — life drawing, poetry classes, open mic events to “all night long” dance shenanigans.
For all the shells of the industrial buildings that exist, they’ve been scrubbed up, vibrantly painted and graffitied with street art and slogans. Grab a £3.50 slice of pizza from inside the neon orange-coated Gingerinos. Here, quarter slices are tossed into the oven and delivered onto our paper plates, the fior di latte-provolone-mix molten and the crusts perfectly golden.
Just down the road, we head to Ernest for a Newcastle-priced Negroni or a glass of a raved about low intervention wine. Grab a pint of the Tyne Titans from Brinkburn Brewery or a half of the Saison Stout NE6 for a full-bodied affair. Kiln is next door, so though I’d seize any opportunity for a pottery class, if you’ve got the post-pint wobbles dine on some seriously good grub instead. Charred konro leeks topped with lashings of Aleppo chilli butter, sizzling hot plates of cured cod marinated in a sweet fenugreek sauce and fried panisse will be served on Kiln’s own wheel-shaped ceramics.
Just a stone’s throw away from Ouseburn is Sandyford. Tucked away within this largely residential suburb, is The Small Canteen. Apt, for the rectangular building is terrifically tiny. Glaring gold letter types are plastered absurdly huge to the exterior’s vivid green wood panels. Inside, spreads four mahogany tables, a scattering of bar stools tucked against the window and a small multi-functioning kitchen and serving area. A trip to the loo requires mustering some Northern courage, facing the cold and staggering through the unlit streets to the outhouse.
Sam Betts is the man behind it all. He, plus one server and one pot washer are about all that will fit in this wonderful place. Scribbled in colourful chalk is the French-inspired food menu where the likes of braised Cornish octopus, a fennel & gruyere gratin, or a potted rabbit with pickled quince are listed with no frills or epic descriptions. Despite all its obscurities, the food is blooming exceptional…no small plates in sight.
Though the crown of Ouseburn’s culinary heart? The Cook House by Anna Hedworth: author, chef and restaurateur. It’s here that my family and I dine on plates of seasonal veg and whole-smoked mackerel for our routined New Year’s dinner. Crates of organic carrots, squash and salsify will be carted in muddy from harvest by Hexhamshire Organics. The fish is freshly caught from Hodgson Fish, the dairy is sourced from a cow herd at North Doddington Farm in Northumberland and Anna and her team forage, grow, ferment and pickle on-site. Locality is at its core. In part, it is this that transformed this magical spot from a “pay what you think” supper club based in a former shipping container to a Michelin-acclaimed kitchen with a DIY philosophy.
Community spirit in abundance. Creativity at its core. And a plethora of restaurants and pubs to choose from. Who knows? Perhaps Newcastle is on its way to acclaiming yet another stereotype, and a foodie one at that.
Hannah Rees-Middleton
Wild swimming. Natural wine. Excellent exhibitions. And glorious country walks. These are a few of our editor Hannah Rees-Middleton’s favourite things. Whether she’s bouncing around Mexico, paddling through the Kenwood Ladies’ Pond or ogling another mound of butter at a fabulous supper club, Hannah is always in the midst of something cool. A consummate planner, a lover of beautiful things, a traveller never without a camera and a deck of cards. Hannah is many things (including the perfect resource for perfect travel tips).
