Newcastle City Library

About Newcastle City Library

Newcastle City Library was designed by Ryder Architecture and opened to the public on 7 June 2009 at a cost of £24 million, replacing the 1960s building on the same New Bridge Street site. It was officially opened by Elizabeth II that November. Inside there is a marble-floored atrium, a 185-seat performance space, an exhibition space and a cafe, and the whole building is free to enter and free to join whether or not you live in the city.

The top floor houses the Local Studies and Family History service, which is the place to go for maps, newspapers, photographs and parish records covering Newcastle and Northumberland, and its upper levels give good views across the city rooftops. There is a children's library on a lower level, which makes the building one of the better free wet-weather options in the centre with young children. It stands next to the Laing Art Gallery, about three minutes from Monument Metro, and closes on Sundays.

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Blog posts and guides that feature Newcastle City Library.

Free Things to Do in Newcastle City Centre

Newcastle has four free museums and galleries, a Grade I listed covered market, two miles of medieval town wall, a thousand acres of common land and a free organ recital every Monday. Here is what genuinely costs nothing, and what used to be free but is not any more.