newcastle - renting/buying area advice needed

littlejaffa

I'm about to rent in newcastle for circa 6mths before buying, and have never been there - any good mid price areas, easy transport to shiremoor & town.

I'm thinking whitley bay but it could be blackpool in disguise for all i know!
also maybe Holystone but really don't know one area from the other.

Also a good/cheep hotel to stay in near these areas when i go down for the night to view?

all help appreciated.

Henry_Blofeld

littlejaffa wrote:

I'm about to rent in newcastle for circa 6mths before buying, and have never been there - any good mid price areas, easy transport to shiremoor & town.

I'm thinking whitley bay but it could be blackpool in disguise for all i know!
also maybe Holystone but really don't know one area from the other.

Also a good/cheep hotel to stay in near these areas when i go down for the night to view?

all help appreciated.

Whitley Bay is a Balckppol-y haven for tedious stag and hen parties but you don't have to drink there.
There are plenty of cheap B&Bs there and excellent Metro access for you to visit the places you mentioned.

feesh

I used to rent a room in Whitley Bay, but just on the Cullercoats border. I could highly recommend that you think about Cullercoats, which is a lovely little village but part of the continuum between Whitley Bay and Tynemouth (also lovely). You can still walk into Whitley Bay town centre, and it has its own Metro station too. Monkseaton is I think another nice (posher) bit of Whitley Bay.

If you want to stay out on the coast, that is.

Personally I would rather live in one of the nicer areas of Newcastle, e.g. Gosforth or Jesmond, where I used to live as a student. It's a gorgeous leafy suburb, albeit expensive and both have their own little shopping streets.

To be honest, for renting I wouldn't consider anywhere other than Cullercoats, Tynemouth, Monkseaton, Gosforth or Jesmond that is on the Metro line. I'm sure there are other nice places with good transport links, but they're the only ones I have experience of.

For buying I think it would be a bit different as there are some up and coming areas, but I haven't lived there for 6 years so I'm kind of out of touch with it all.

sooz

avoid jesmond like the plague, unless you like living surrounded by drunk southern students. it used to be lovely, but every hotel along osborne road has turned their hotel bar into a loud, lively student friendly bar.

i'd vote gosforth, only one or two stops further out of town on the metro from jesmond, but much more civilised.

feesh

Actually that's a good point, I'd heard that Jesmond had turned a bit odd like that.

The streets around Ilford Road (halfway between Jesmond and Gosforth on the Metro) are meant to be quite nice too. A quiet suburb, no bars or shops but easy enough to get to some.

Are you working in Shiremoor? I think that is the place where there's loads of new housing, which looks quite nice as you pass through it on the Metro, so maybe one of the modern houses on the new estates might be nice to rent?

Also one of my friends is now a GP up there and she's bought a gorgeous brand new flat on the river, down at St. Peter's Basin (nearest Metro is Byker) - previously a no-go area but a really nice swanky riverside development now.

Metro map: http://www.theatreroyal.co.uk/image_library/9/63/242.gif

littlejaffa

Just wanted to say a huge thanks for everyone's advice - i've taken it all on board and plumped for tynemouth - now what do i do when i get there?!

Good freebie things to do?

anyone?