A city lacking in... vava voom??

I've got to tell it like it is: I love Newcastle. For the duration of my degree it welcomed me with open arms, becoming the city that I call home after a mere year of being there, and the location of so many fond memories. Nostalgia aside, Newcastle is a city that is full of charm. The buildings are archaic and beautiful, the coast boasts fabulous flea markets for picking up bits of tat (I love tat), and some of the best fish and chip shops I've ever had the pleasure of encountering. Newcastle also has that oh-so working class charm which is ruggedly delightful, and the Geordie accent appears to have non-Geordie's all in a flutter. It also has beautiful parks and is renowned for its amazing nightlife (supposedly Newcastle is the binge drinking capital of the UK...). It has its cobbled streets and its charming nooks and crannies, and the traditional Newcastle houses are full of character and period features. It has some great venues for gigs and it has Evolution, the music festival, on the Quayside every year. Just over the water in Gateshead is one of the biggest shopping centre's ever, and Eldon Square has just undergone a major overhaul.

On paper then, it would seem that Newcastle was a city that was thriving. However, in reality this is not the case; instead it is a little lacklustre, a little, to put it simply, flat. The reality is that the credit crunch seems to have had more of an obvious effect upon the city than anywhere else. The city is lacking in individual, quirky little shops, cafes and bars: shops which are the most likely to suffer in a city in economic turmoil. Newcastle is a city that survives only on the high street, but even then the choice is pretty limited to say the least. There are so many cutesy venues that would be ideal for vintage boutiques and antique shops, but they just don't seem to appear too frequently, and when they do they don't survive for long. It seems a shame that lunch out usually means visiting Pret or another coffee chain. There are no quirky cafes to eat in and no fab vintage shops to shop in. There is no Newcastle equivalent of Manchester's Northern Quarter: an area rich in indie bliss and vintage heaven. Don't get me wrong, there are little antique shops. Attica is positively amazing, and Chillingham collectables is full of so many amazing trinkets that I would sell my soul to own them. Nevertheless, the former is a vintage shop stocked with such amazing stuff that Newcastle would be in mourning if it closed, and the latter isn't even in the city centre... And whereas the Hummingbird Bakery thrives in London's Notting Hill, with queues snaking its way around the antique stalls of Portabello Market, Cake, Newcastle's equivalent with an oh-so original name, stands empty for most of the day. Best Vintage definitely does not stock the best vintage, with the majority of stock being old items that have not sold for a reason. This has resulted in several downsizes since I first arrived in Newcastle back in 2007, and probably the reason the venue also smells of mothballs and Eau de old man.

Newcastle is in need of a shake up. The venues on the cobbled streets are going to waste, and as a result, the indie scene is somewhat dead, as is everything remotely quirky. Visiting any other city; York, Manchester, Leeds, London, Cambridge, Edinburgh (I could go on), tea rooms and vintage shops are in abundance, and so it is somewhat shocking that they all seem to be failing in Newcastle. And as a result, there is nowhere to browse and nothing interesting to look at. The vintage shops source their stock on such a irregular basis that you are pretty much guaranteed to see the same items every time you go in, even if your visits are three months apart... Which inevitably means a lack of profits which therefore increases the chances of the vintage doors closing forever.

I could go on, as this is something I feel quite passionate about. I feel like Newcastle needs a fresh set of eyes; one that will breathe youth and passion and reinvigorate the city. I feel like it needs a shake-up, however until someone stands up and acknowledges this (someone who can do something about it at that), that the city will remain flat, lifeless and very much mainstream.

The city has the potential to house beautiful shops, cafes and bars as shown below, which would help to give the city its mojo back. Now all it needs is someone able to make the change...

Ruby Blue, Carlisle

Another Ruby Blue shot.

Vintage in York

Scarlet Ribbons, Durham.