Newcastle’s nightlife reputation precedes itself, often hailed as one of the best nights out in the country. It’s the kind of reputation that attracts tourists, stag dos, and hen parties by the dozen. Clubs like Digital – known locally as Digi – are hailed as some of the best in the country. Some guides even rank it among the best clubs in the world. But talk to any student, and their reaction is usually indifferent at best. Personally, I’ve only ventured there a handful of times during first-year Freshers’ events – who remembers Kandi Island? Even then, the experience was more about surviving the overcrowded chaos than having a good time. These days, I don’t know anyone who actually goes. The general consensus? It’s mostly full of underage kids, and the reputation feels more myth than reality.
Tup Tup Palace, another hotspot that supposedly embodies the city’s nightlife appeal, has long been associated with celebrity guests and reality TV show appearances. Kanye West’s infamous visit and Geordie Shore’s regular hauntings only added to the club’s reputation. While it’s glitzy and glamorous its popularity with stag dos and tourists makes it feel disconnected from actual student life. Most of us avoid it on a regular night out. Instead, it’s the kind of place we might reluctantly go to for special occasions – birthdays or big celebrations – when we feel like doing something a bit more extravagant. But it’s rarely part of our weekly rotation.
Instead, we flock to places we know – Holy Hobo on Tuesdays, Market Shaker to Flares to Soho on Wednesdays sports socials, Casa on Fridays, and Dog and Parrot and The Cut on Saturdays. It’s a routine ingrained in our social lives. And maybe that’s the problem. We go to the same places week in, and week out, expecting some revelation that never comes. There’s a safety in repetition, but it’s also a little dull.
But why do we choose these places? Is it because we genuinely enjoy them, or because we’re just trying to avoid the chaos of tourists? When people come to Newcastle who aren’t students, they go to entirely different places. It’s like we live in parallel worlds. The city is known for its nightlife, but for us, it’s less about luxury clubs and more about the places we feel we belong.
As a third-year, broke student, I now gravitate toward places with free entry – Holy Hobo, Dog and Parrot, Cosy Joes (a karaoke classic). It’s practical and, honestly, more fun than squeezing into some overly hyped club where you can barely hear your friends over the music. The nights I remember most fondly aren’t the ones spent in packed nightclubs, but rather the chilled ones at cosy pubs or cheap bars where we can actually talk.
And yet, despite the endless complaints and the eye-rolls I give to anyone who praises Newcastle’s nightlife, I can’t help but feel there’s something I’m missing. Maybe it’s the freedom of not being a student, of not feeling like I have to fit into this world of student bars and Wednesday socials. Maybe Newcastle’s nightlife is as good as people say, just not in the way we’re experiencing it.