Best Places to Work Remotely in Newcastle City Centre

Working from home loses its shine eventually, and Newcastle city centre is a good place to escape to. Everything is within a fifteen-minute walk of Central Station or Monument, so you can start the morning in one place, move for lunch and finish somewhere else entirely. The city has a fair number of coworking operators, but this guide sticks to a verified handful: one proper pay-as-you-go desk, a few cafes that suit a laptop, and two libraries that cost nothing at all.

A note on etiquette before you settle in. Small independent cafes run on table turnover, so if you are staying more than an hour or so, keep ordering, avoid the lunchtime rush and give up a four-seater if it gets busy.

Coworking: The Racquets Court

If you need a real desk, a reliable connection and somewhere to take a call, The Racquets Court at 3 College Street is the most flexible option in the centre. It sits in a historic building a short walk from the shops and from Haymarket Metro, and it is unusual among Newcastle workspaces in selling desk time by the hour as well as by the month.

Pay-as-you-go desks cost £5 an hour, or £29.99 for a full day (9am to 5pm) Monday to Thursday and £19.99 on Fridays, all before VAT. You book online, pick a floor and a desk, and get a confirmation by email. Refreshments are unlimited, the WiFi is fibre-based, and printing, scanning and meeting room access are part of the offer. Reception is staffed 9am to 5pm on weekdays, and there are monthly memberships and hot desk plans if you find yourself going back every week.

Best for: Best for: a proper desk, video calls and a full day of focused work.

Cafes that suit a laptop

Lagom Speciality Coffee Bar

Lagom on Monk Street, in the quiet block behind Central Station, is listed as laptop friendly, and its spare Scandinavian room is calmer than the cafes on the main shopping streets. It runs four rotating coffees at a time, two on espresso and two on filter, so a long session is also a decent tasting flight. Open Monday to Friday 8.30am to 4.30pm, Saturday 9am to 4.30pm and Sunday 10am to 4.30pm, and it is dog friendly.

Best for: Best for: good coffee near the station and a calm room to work in.

5|Quarter at The Common Room

5|Quarter is the cafe bar inside Neville Hall on Westgate Road, the restored Victorian home of the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers. The Common Room offers free WiFi throughout the building, and the cafe has tables at a range of heights, which makes it more comfortable than most for an hour or two on a laptop. It is open Monday to Friday, 8am to 3pm, and there is step-free access via a small platform lift. Take a break to look at the Wood Memorial Hall library, one of the finest interiors in the city.

Best for: Best for: free WiFi in a heritage setting, two minutes from Central Station.

Olive & Bean

Olive & Bean on Clayton Street has been a calm corner of Grainger Town for years. The room is homely and deliberately mismatched, with sofas and shared tables, and it is the kind of place where people settle in for an hour. Breakfast, brunch and lunch run through the day, with a clearly marked gluten-free range. It is walk-in only and opens seven days, so it is a useful weekend option, though Saturday mid-mornings can be busy.

Best for: Best for: a relaxed weekend session with lunch at your table.

Blake's Coffee House

Blake's on Grey Street opens at 7.30am every day except Sunday (8.30am), earlier than almost any other independent in town. It is an old-fashioned coffee house spread over more than one level, with its own blend and a breakfast menu that runs from eggs Benedict to a full English.

Best for: Best for: early starts, and breakfast before the inbox.

Central Bean

Central Bean on Gallowgate describes itself as serving the business hub, shoppers and everyone in between, and that is a fair picture of the street: offices, the back of Eldon Square and the approach to St James' Park. It opens at 7.30am Monday to Friday and 9am on Saturdays, closed Sundays, with breakfast and brunch alongside the coffee.

Best for: Best for: a pre-meeting coffee at the business end of town.

For more places to pour a good cup, see our guide to the best coffee shops in Newcastle city centre.

Libraries: free, quiet and central

Newcastle City Library

Newcastle City Library on New Bridge Street West, next to the Laing, is free to enter and free to join, whether or not you live in the city. It is open Monday to Wednesday and Friday 10am to 5pm, Thursday until 7pm, and Saturday 10am to 2pm, closed Sundays. Members can use the public computers for up to three hours a day, mobile printing is available to all visitors (charges apply), and the council has meeting rooms to hire if you need somewhere private for a session. Monument Metro is about three minutes away.

Best for: Best for: free all-day working space with printing on hand.

The Lit & Phil

The Literary & Philosophical Society on Westgate Road, founded in 1793, is the largest independent library outside London, and anyone can walk in and use the building free of charge. Membership is only needed to borrow. Its galleried Victorian reading room is a working silent library, so it suits reading, writing and thinking rather than calls. Opening runs from 9.30am on weekdays (until 7pm Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, 8pm Tuesday and 5pm Friday) and 9.30am to 1pm on Saturday. It sits next door to The Common Room, so a morning here and lunch at 5|Quarter is an easy pairing.

Best for: Best for: deep, silent concentration in one of the city's great rooms.

A remote worker's day in the centre

Start at Blake's at 7.30am for breakfast and the first block of email. Walk down to the Lit & Phil when it opens for a quiet, phone-free morning, then go next door to 5|Quarter for lunch and a WiFi session. If the afternoon needs calls, book a few hours at The Racquets Court. For more ideas that cost nothing, try our round-up of free things to do in Newcastle city centre.

Know another laptop-friendly spot in Newcastle city centre? Tell us via our contact page.