Each January, we take a look ahead to the upcoming event highlights for the following year and provide you with plenty of reasons to visit NewcastleGateshead.
This year is going to be massive for NewcastleGateshead and we can not wait to enjoy it with you. Here's to 2024!
Plan your visit to Newcastle, Gateshead and the North East this year and enjoy art, culture, new experiences, sing-along gigs, mouth watering food and much more.
We will run down the top events, concerts and festivals, all you have to do is be there!
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NewcastleGateshead events 2024
Wylam Food Battles
- Flower Power... Vegan Fest 2024: 26th-27th January
- Battle of the Burger 2024: 28th- 29th March
- Slice Wars 2024: 3rd-4th May
- Mexican Standoff 2024: 24th-25th May
- Lord of the Wings 2024: 23rd-24th August
- Argie Bhaji 2024: 8th-9th November
The ever popular Wylam Food Battles will return in 2024, with a brand new addition! Starting off the year, Flower Power celebrates all things meat-free, with over ten vegan food traders. Battle of the Burger commences in March, with vendors fighting to be crowned the best burger in the toon! Moving into May, we will be blessed with not one, but two food battles. Slice Wars and Mexican Stand Off take place on both bank holiday weekends in May. Expect exceptional pizza and mouth watering Mexican cuisine, with hopefully some sunshine to accompany the battles. Lord of the Wings is a newcomer in 2024, with vendors battling to be crowned the best chicken wing in Newcastle! Finishing off the year, Argie Bhaji will warm us up in early November, will reigning champions My Delhi hold onto their crown?
NE1 Restaurant Week
- 15th-21st January 2024
- August dates TBC
NE1 Restaurant Week is a popular event in the Geordie calendar. Taking place twice a year, the week long event gives people the chance to eat out at some of the city's top eateries for menus of £15, £20 and £25 per person. Whether you are a fine-dining fanatic, a burger connoisseur or simply an all round foodie, there is something for everyone in NE1's Restaurant Week.
National Stottie Cake Week
- 12th-18th February 2024
The first ever National Stottie Cake Week is taking place in 2024. Created by The Big River Bakery, the week will consist of a series of events and activities focused on celebrating the Geordie classic. Although the final itinerary for the week is yet to be finalised, the main goal is to enhance the accessibility of affordable and complimentary baked goods, as well as stottie kits, within various neighbourhoods in Newcastle.
Current plans encompass a Golden Stottie Raffle, a Stottie Cake Trail, and the presence of a life-sized Scotty the Stottie visiting key locations throughout the city.
Newcastle Puppetry Festival
- 30th March- 7th April 2024
Newcastle Puppetry Festival returns for its 5th edition this coming Easter Holidays. The festival will run 30th March - 7th April 2024, offering a wide variety of colourful events across the city’s venues and public spaces.
Produced by local arts charity Moving Parts Arts CIO, the award-winning festival will feature over 100 free and ticketed puppetry events, including workshops, films, talks and performances for adults, children, teens and families. The festival attracts over 10,000 people with each edition, a bubbling mixture of local residents, people from around the region, and visitors from all corners of the world. Find out more here.
Newcastle Puppetry Festival is funded and made possible by support from North of Tyne Combined Authority.
Newcastle-Gateshead Marathon
- 5th May 2024
New for 2024, the North East Marathon will take runners around closed roads in Newcastle and Gateshead. The course takes in famous landmarks including the Millennium Bridge, The Glasshouse, BALTIC, Tyne Bridge, Swing Bridge and finishes in the Gateshead International Stadium. The race will be in support of Children North East and also has a 10k and half-marathon event on the same day.
The Late Shows
- 17th May- 18th May 2024
The Late Shows is an award-winning late-night free culture crawl. During The Late Shows, open art studios, music and performance venues, galleries, museums, studio collectives and landmark historical buildings come together to host intriguing interactive events for visitors. It’s all about encouraging people to do something cultural with their evening. The Late Shows take place between 6-10.30pm and the Friday night is for Ouseburn Valley venues and Saturday night's event takes place at venues across central Newcastle and Gateshead.
National Treasures at Laing Art Gallery
- 10th May-7th September 2024
The Laing Art Gallery is one of twelve partners taking part in National Treasures, twelve displays of loaned paintings all opening on 10 May 2024, the 200th birthday of the National Gallery.
Painted by one of Britain's greatest and most prolific painters, Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851), The Fighting Temeraire will feature in a wider exhibition centred around themes of art, industry and nostalgia linking to the rise of steam power and industry in Britain of particular relevance to the North East with ship building still very much part of the identity of the region. The Fighting Temeraire, regarded as being one of the artist’s best-known works, is a tribute to the ship HMS Temeraire, which played a distinguished role in Lord Nelson’s victory at The Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. The painting shows the final journey of the ship as it is towed along the river Thames by a modern paddle-wheel steam tug in 1838, towards its final berth in Rotherhithe to be broken up for scrap.
It was voted as the nation’s favourite painting in a 2005 poll run by BBC Radio 4, and features on the polymer £20 bank note, which went into circulation in 2020.
Great North 10k
- 7th July 2024
Want a challenge in 2024? The AJ Bell Great North 10k is back in June this year. The route takes runners past some of the most iconic sights of the North East. From river views to stunning architecture, the Great North 10k is a love letter to Newcastle and Gateshead – and there’s a whole lot of love for it among runners. Expect a party atmosphere, incredible support and an unbeatable sense of achievement at the finish line.
Northern Pride
- 20th- 21st July 2024
Northern Pride is back for 2024 on Newcastle's Town Moor and will continue in the format of recent years with two distinct areas- The Festival Arena and The Community Village. The Festival Arena will be ticketed and will have some new and exciting features in 2024. The Main Stage acts are yet to be revealed, so watch this space! Tickets start from £6 for each day and £10 for a weekend pass. As well as the ticketed arena, Northern Pride have ensured that there are still free aspects to the event. The Community Village will be free to enter and will include all the regular community zones and market stalls. Bring on July!
Novum Festival
- 9th-11th August 2024
Novum is a multi artform event that showcases local, national and international talent. The festival, which is returning for its second year in 2024, will transform the Civic Centre once more into a cultural hub. Be sure to keep checking the official Novum website for the full programme once it is announced later on in the year.
Great North Run
- 8th September
The AJ Bell Great North Run is the world’s biggest half marathon, with 60,000 runners taking on the 13.1 mile route from Newcastle to South Shields each year. It’s famous for its inclusive atmosphere, unbeatable on-route entertainment, and warm Geordie welcome, not to mention the millions raised each year for worthy causes. The atmosphere over the Great North Run weekend can be hard to understand- until you’ve experienced it for yourself!
The Glasshouse turns 20
- December 2024
The much loved Glasshouse International Centre for Music will turn 20 in 2024! The celebrated venue on the Gateshead Quayside has been giving the North East and its visitors 20 years of great music and they aim to celebrate that in 2024!
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