The Quayside is an area along the banks (

quay A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths ( mooring locatio ...

) of the

River Tyne The River Tyne is a river in North East England. Its length (excluding tributaries) is . It is formed by the North Tyne and the South Tyne, which converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Wat ...

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

(the north bank) and

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Millennium Bridge, The Sage, and the Baltic Centre for Contemporary ...

(south bank) in

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a metropolitan county in North East England, situated around the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear. It was created in 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972, along with five metropolitan boroughs of Gateshead, Newcas ...

North East England North East England is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. The region has three current administrative levels below the region level in the region; combined authority, unitary author ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

History

The area was once an industrial area and busy commercial dockside serving the area, while the Newcastle side also hosted a regular

street market A marketplace or market place is a location where people regularly gather for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other goods. In different parts of the world, a marketplace may be described as a ''souk'' (from the Arabic lang ...

. In recent years the docks became run-down, and the area has since been heavily redeveloped to provide a modern environment for the

modern art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradi ...

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

and

culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups ...

, as well as new

housing Housing, or more generally, living spaces, refers to the construction and assigned usage of houses or buildings individually or collectively, for the purpose of shelter. Housing ensures that members of society have a place to live, whether ...

developments (e.g. at St Peter's Marina). Along the Newcastle side is an area that houses

restaurants A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar ( ...

s and night clubs as well as

and the Newcastle Law Courts. The NewcastleGateshead initiative now lists the Quayside as a top ten attraction. The Gateshead side of the river is designated and signposted as Gateshead Quays. It is the site of the

BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art (also known simply as (the) Baltic, stylised as BALTIC) is a centre for contemporary art located on the south bank of the River Tyne in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England. It hosts a frequently changing variety ...

and The Sage Gateshead performing arts and conference centre. Also moored on the Gateshead side from 1984 until 2008 was the '' Tuxedo Princess'' (replaced for a time by sister ship ''Tuxedo Royale''), a floating nightclub, beneath the

Tyne Bridge The Tyne Bridge is a through arch bridge over the River Tyne in North East England, linking Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead. The bridge was designed by the engineering firm Mott, Hay and Anderson, who later designed the Forth Road Bridge, ...

near the Sage.

The Sage The Sage is a forthcoming indoor arena and conference centre in Gateshead, United Kingdom due to open in Autumn 2024. The site is located between the existing Sage Gateshead venue and the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art on Gateshead Quaysid ...

, an arena and conference centre, is under construction between the Sage Gateshead and the Baltic. One of the Quayside's main features is the pedestrian

Gateshead Millennium Bridge The Gateshead Millennium Bridge is a pedestrian and cyclist tilt bridge spanning the River Tyne between Gateshead arts quarter on the south bank and Newcastle upon Tyne's Quayside area on the north bank. It was the first tilting bridge ever ...

, opened in 2001, which spans the river between the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art and the Newcastle Law Courts. The other bridge which allows direct road and pedestrian links between the two banks is the low level

Swing Bridge A swing bridge (or swing span bridge) is a movable bridge that has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its center of gravity, about which the swing span (turning span) can then pi ...

, built in 1876, and located nearer the two respective city centres. Using the two bridges, the Quayside is the venue for the junior course of the annual Great North Run.

Whey Aye

In July 2019, Newcastle City Council passed plans to erect a giant

observation wheel A Ferris wheel (also called a Giant Wheel or an observation wheel) is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating upright wheel with multiple passenger-carrying components (commonly referred to as passenger cars, cabins, tubs, gondolas, capsules ...

on the quayside at Spiller's Wharf as part of a wider ‘Giants on the Quayside’ development. Dubbed the "Whey Aye" wheel, at tall it would be the tallest such structure in Europe upon completion, which was anticipated to take two years.

Buildings

Notable buildings include: *The

Customs House A custom house or customs house was traditionally a building housing the offices for a jurisdictional government whose officials oversaw the functions associated with importing and exporting goods into and out of a country, such as collecting ...

, a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

built in 1766, altered and refronted in 1833 by

Sydney Smirke Sydney Smirke (20 December 1797 – 8 December 1877) was a British architect. Smirke who was born in London, England as the fifth son of painter Robert Smirke and his wife, Elizabeth Russell. He was the younger brother of Sir Robert Smirke ...

. *The Malmaison Hotel, a Grade II

built in 1900 as a warehouse for the Cooperative Society. *Newcastle upon Tyne Combined Court Centre, built between 1984 and 1990, designed by Napper Collerton, architects.

Public transport

Go North East's QuayLink Q1, Q2 and Q3 services operate frequently. QuayLink connects most of the main attractions and destinations in NewcastleGateshead, serving those who live, work, study, or those just visiting the area.

References

External links

Newcastle Quayside & Gateshead Quays

Newcastle Tourist Information

Gateshead Quays

St Peter's - Newcastle Residential Areas
{{authority control Districts of Newcastle upon Tyne Geography of Tyne and Wear River Tyne Entertainment districts in the United Kingdom Tourist attractions in Newcastle upon Tyne