The best budget hotels in Newcastle upon Tyne
An insider's guide to the best budget hotels in Newcastle upon Tyne, featuring the city's top places to stay for excellent rates, central locations, stylish rooms, dramatic views, good restaurants and lively bars, close to attractions such as the Gateshead Quayside, Grey Street and Eldon Square.
All prices below are rates for double rooms, based on two people sharing. These prices are subject to change in high season and during popular holidays and events.
Opposite Newcastle Central Station, on the corner of one of the city’s principal streets, Grainger Street, this hotel has a prime central position with most of the city’s attractions within a five- to 10-minute walk, including the Castle, Cathedral, Quayside, Centre for Life, Eldon Square plus the shops, restaurants and Theatre Royal in Georgian Grey Street. The 160 rooms, spread over five floors, are identical in style but vary in views and size. It sounds dull but someone has worked hard on the design to create large-feeling rooms that work well: storage space under the bed, an ergonomic chair at the desk, sockets where you need them, and a sliding door to a bright bathroom with large walk-in shower.
• The best hotels in Newcastle upon Tyne
Jury's Inn is in a great position for city views, on Gateshead Quayside, overlooking the River Tyne, the bridges and the next-door Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art (in a converted flour mill). The Sage Gateshead concert hall is also just a five-minute walk. Its modern, boxy, low-rise design in dark red and grey with feature black window-surrounds is not unattractive. The ground floor continues the grey and red colour scheme in its light-filled reception-lounge, which segues into the bar and restaurant area with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the river.
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A budget hotel with style sounds an oxymoron, but Sleeperz pretty much hits the spot. Plus it’s in a good central - if not particularly glitzy - location, on the site of former warehouses and backing on to the station. Inside, red and black walls, funky accent wallpapers, and stripy chairs and carpets add warmth and fun. Floor-to-ceiling windows in many bedrooms add panache. No space is wasted - the ground-floor area multitasks as reception, bar, dining area and lounge; bedside tables double up as hospitality trays.
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For gritty, city-centre living, you won't do much better. Motel One sits on tiny, cobbled High Bridge - one of the city's oldest streets - with its Georgian and Victorian buildings offering a mix of bars, restaurants, traditional pubs plus a comedy club and artists’ studios. Once inside, the open-plan ground floor - bar, dining area, lounge areas plus reception - has a stripped-down, masculine feel, designed to reflect Newcastle's industrial past: hardwood floors, metalwork standard lamps and retro-styled chairs. There’s a large courtyard for al fresco drinks, secure bicycle storage, iPads to borrow and discounted arrangements with several attractions and restaurants.
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The Grade ll-listed brick building that houses Roomzzz Newcastle has been skilfully converted to feel slick and modern - pale grey walls, oversized chandeliers, snazzy striped carpets - without losing its sense of history. An elegant staircase, sash windows and tongue-and-groove panelling - plus beams, high ceilings or fireplaces in some rooms - evoke its Georgian credentials. There’s a sense of fun, with colourful signs and cheeky phrases - ‘Well hello there’, ‘Time to snooze’ - beside each room door. The rooms themselves are all different in layout - perhaps split-level or open-plan - though similar in style, with dark-wood laminate floors, shaggy rugs, feature wallpapers and suede-style Chesterfields, plus muted shades of charcoal, chocolate and purple.
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Despite the large, Edwardian, brick-and-stone building, few original features remain except bay windows and some handsome tiling around the stairwell. The reception area fronts the street, clearly visible through large windows. With exposed metal rafters, a scattering of sofas and chairs, and Tune's signature colours of grey, red and black, it has a simple, youthful and contemporary look. The style in the bedrooms is modern and minimalist, with laminate flooring, white walls, a splash of red in bedheads and scant furniture, perhaps a bedside table and desk. Big mirrors give a welcome sense of space.
