Charity Shops in Newcastle City Centre

Charity shops are one of the quiet pleasures of Newcastle city centre. A short loop on foot from Monument takes in a dozen or more, run by everyone from national household names to hospices whose money stays in the North East. They are the place to hunt for a paperback, a coat, a set of glasses or a piece of bric-a-brac at a fraction of the high-street price, and the place to take a bag of good things you no longer need. Charity shops open and relocate more often than most businesses, so treat the streets below as the reliable clusters rather than a fixed address book, and be ready for a shop to have shifted a few doors along since your last visit.

Where the charity shops cluster

The single densest run is Clayton Street, the long street that drops from the Grainger Market end of town down towards Central Station. Over the years it has held British Heart Foundation, the Salvation Army, PDSA, Mind and a St Oswald's Hospice shop within a few minutes of each other, which makes it the obvious place to start a browse. Because there are several within sight of one another, you can compare prices and stock without much walking.

Grainger Street, running parallel and one of the handsomest streets in the city, is the next best bet, with Cancer Research UK and Scope among the charities that have traded there. The streets around the Bigg Market and Newgate Street are worth a wander too: Cancer Research UK has had a presence in the Newgate Shopping Centre, and smaller independent and specialist charity outlets tend to appear on the quieter side streets. Elsewhere in the centre you will find Oxfam over towards Percy Street and Shelter on Nun Street, near the Grainger Market. Shops open and relocate, so it is worth a walk along each of these streets rather than setting out for one exact shopfront.

Best for: A good browsing loop: start on Clayton Street, cut up to Grainger Street, then work back through the Bigg Market and Nun Street. Nearly all of it is within ten minutes of Monument Metro.

The local charity worth leading with

Among all the familiar national logos, the one to know is St Oswald's Hospice. It is a Gosforth-based hospice caring for adults, young people and children across the North East, and its chain of shops is one of the largest charity-retail operations in the region. The important difference is where the money goes: spend in a St Oswald's shop, or drop off a donation there, and the proceeds fund hospice care for people in and around Newcastle rather than a national pot. For a lot of local shoppers that is reason enough to make it the first rail they flick through.

The big national charities each do something slightly different with their shops, which is worth knowing when you are hunting. British Heart Foundation often runs larger units and is the name to look for if you want furniture or electricals as well as clothes. Oxfam tends to be strong on books and, in some branches, music. Barnardo's, Cancer Research UK, Shelter, Scope, Mind and the Salvation Army all carry the usual mix of clothing, homeware and bric-a-brac, with stock that turns over constantly, so the shop that had nothing last week may be the one with the find this week.

Donating goods and furniture

Charity shops depend entirely on what people bring in, and donating is straightforward. Clean, saleable clothes, books, CDs, homeware, toys and small electricals can be handed in at the counter during opening hours; a quick check that items are clean and undamaged is appreciated and saves the volunteers sorting time. For larger items such as sofas and beds, most of the big charities run a separate furniture operation rather than taking them in the city-centre shops. St Oswald's Hospice, for instance, offers a free collection service for large or heavy items and has a dedicated furniture and warehouse store, so if you are clearing a house it is worth calling ahead to arrange a pickup rather than carrying things into town.

Best for: Gift Aid tip: if you are a UK taxpayer, sign up for Gift Aid when you donate goods. The charity can then reclaim tax on the amount your donation sells for, adding 25p for every pound at no cost to you. You only need to fill in the form once per shop.

Vintage, retro and books

Charity shops are where a lot of Newcastle's second-hand and vintage shopping quietly happens. You will not find curated rails of graded vintage at high-street prices here; instead you find the raw material, and the reward goes to whoever is willing to dig. Coats, knitwear, denim and the odd genuinely old piece turn up regularly, and prices are set to sell rather than to maximise, so a patient eye pays off. The city also has dedicated vintage and retro shops, particularly around the Grainger Market and the side streets, for anyone who would rather have the hunting done for them, but the charity rails are where the bargains live.

Books are a particular strength. Oxfam has long specialised in second-hand books, and most of the general charity shops keep a shelf or two, so between them the city-centre shops amount to a scattered second-hand bookshop. It is worth a slow look along the spines: local history, out-of-print fiction and children's books all surface here for a pound or two.

A sustainable way to shop

Beyond the bargains, buying second-hand is simply one of the greenest choices you can make in a city centre. Every garment, book or piece of homeware bought from a charity shop is one that stays out of landfill and one fewer new item that needs making. Add the fact that the money funds real local causes, from hospice care to medical research, and a Saturday spent working the charity shops of Clayton Street and Grainger Street starts to look like one of the most useful things you can do with an afternoon in town.

Run a charity shop in the city centre, or spotted one we have missed or that has moved? Get in touch and we will keep this guide up to date.