Member Article

Newcastle Restaurant Week to return in January 2018

Newcastle Restaurant Week will soon be back for a fifteenth time when the week-long, discounted eating event returns to the city centre between January 15th and 21st next year.

Over 100 restaurants will partake in the initiative, with newly opened venues The Laundrette, Aurora Kitchen, French Quarter, Hudson and Signor Prosecco all involved too.

Inspired by New York and its original Restaurant Week concept, NE1 launched Newcastle Restaurant Week in 2011 to turn the spotlight on the city’s restaurant scene and encourage people to try out some of the city’s top restaurants for the first time, all for a fixed price menu.

The event was designed to boost trade at traditionally quiet times of the year in January and August but is now so popular and much-anticipated that the week is among the busiest of the year for participating restaurants and sees many of the restaurants fully booked for the week.

Last January, the event delivered a number of record breaking firsts for participating restaurants, it hit the 100 milestone mark for those taking part, delivered a £500k business boost for these venues and saw 45,000 people dining out during Restaurant Week.

The event also broke all previous website activity with over 1.4 million visits to the NE1 Newcastle Restaurant Week page before the week began.

Stephen Patterson, Director of Communications at NE1 Ltd said: “Newcastle Restaurant Week is one of the most popular events in NE1’s annual events calendar and is eagerly anticipated each January and August.

“We originally launched the event with only 13 restaurants and it has grown dramatically over the last 6 years – mirroring the expansion of the city’s restaurant scene, which now has more restaurants per square mile than any other Northern city, and the highest independent start up rate of any other city outside London.

“We’re always delighted to welcome new restaurants into the fold and hope they have a successful week.”