St. Oswald's is a North East based Cancer Charity which has opened a series of specialist shops to…read moreraise money for their cause - the book shop on Gosforth High Street being one of my favourites. The shop isn't big in size, but it's well laid out with a good selection of books ranging from Autobiographies, to Sci-fi, travel and more. The staff are friendly, and there are often offers on. I picked up four great Sci-fi books for a quid, for instance. Bargain! A good visit for any book reader, which raises funds for a good cause.

This branch of WHSmith is the most reviewed branch in Newcastle city centre of WHSmith with an…read moreimpressive 12 reviews on Yelp, including those merged across from Qype. It is probably the largest store I saw on my recent trip to the Tyne and Wear Region of WHSmith, which included branches in Newcastle Central Railway Station, Durham and the Gateshead Metrocentre. This branch was my favourite out of the ones mentioned mainly down to the size, it had a good product range for items such as lever arch folders, drinks and snacks etc. The drink selection was good however I found the 2 for £2.50 promotion to be a tad expensive, considering Superdrug nearby runs a promotion to have 2 for £2, which works out £1.80 with my Unidays Discount however sadly the range they have is much poorer than the WHSmith branch, when comparing the branch nearby to this one. There also is a huge staircase in the store, with the upper floor having some more WHSmith floor space as I recall and a post office. The staff member working seemed friendly enough, although I did have to take longer checking out my items as for some reason the self-service tills wouldn't recognise the 2 for £2.50 offer on my drinks, meaning it would take longer as I had to go to the manned checkout, then I had to go through the slightly longer process of finding my card after being told they don't accept Apple Pay by an employee, only to go on to find out they did accept it and the member of staff who served me didn't know about it. This is a large, decent branch of WHSmith, staff training on payment methods, machines recognising offers and pricing needs to be worked off at paramount importance, but until then this is still a decent store and a nice branch of the chain to warrant a three-star rating.

WHSmith is one of those shops that makes you feel really depressed as soon as you walk through the…read moredoors. This store in particular is very grotty and every visit to it so far has left me feeling deflated. The blue fluorescent lighting makes the shop horrible and dingy and the staff look like they are working in a prison. The store is far too big for what it is (a newsagent) and they never seem to have enough stock to justify the space. Especially upstairs. All that is up there is the post office and stationery, with a huge empty gap in the middle. I only really come here to buy snacks on the go as they have a good selection of confectionery, including American chocolates. I would have left a 1 star review but the confectionery lifts it up to 2. But as a whole, WHSmith works better in the travel industry, like in train stations and airports because their main high street stores are always eerily quiet and depressing, with the only noises being your footsteps and the occasional beeping of the self checkout.

Rather large bookshop in the centre of Newcastle. It does have comfy sofas for us none reading…read moretypes. A book for everyone here.

I don't find this somewhere that I'd put on my list of favourites.I don't think it has the same…read moreappeal that say Waterstone's at Grey's Monument has. I think it tends to cater more for specialised studenty type material rather than basic best seller and popular books.The prices seem to reflect this. They will order of course if they don't have what you want in stock.Trouble is I waited quite a while when I ordered from here only to find a friend who ordered at the same time elsewhere only waited a week for her's to arrive. I think there are better bookshops in Newcastle unless you want something specialised for coursework.

My personal favourite place to buy meat, veggies and bread…read more Big barn type market in the centre of Newcastle. Numerous stalls that offer all types of different services. Numerous award winning butchers that offer prime cuts of meat, fantastic mince and healthy plump chickens and eggs! Wonderful bakery that makes the best breads and pastry I have tried. Wonderful vegetables and fruit stands where you get can a serious deal on great vegetables. Cheapest and most authentic pick and mix selection I have ever seen Fish monger, show repair, tea shop, cafes, clothing and boot sale, cd shops, home repair, clothing alterations ... Even a room with a scale in it! Grainger Market is magical. A must see, I consider the market a tourist attraction because of how traditional it is. The people in the booths all seem very authentic and very helpful.

It took me far too long to actually go to Grainger market. I love places with lots of little…read moreindividual businesses. I was used to markets being places with cheap tat and someone with a thick Black Country accent yelling from a van about sausages, and it's just definitely not like that here. There are still veggies, butchers (and decent cheeses to boot), but there are some seriously talented craftspeople too. It's good for a look around even if you don't feel like buying anyth8ng, odds are you probably will end up doing so.

Great staff and great shop. Exactly what you want it to be and are more than happy to help with…read moreanything you could want and need

It's THE place for geeks and gamers in Newcastle, fun atmosphere, nice food, really friendly staff…read moreand a great selection of stuff to buy.

Anyone who has any interest in sci-fi and anime will have spent every Saturday in one of these…read morestores. Dotted around the country, you were lucky enough if you could visit one of these stores on a regular basis. For me, whilst others dabbled in long sessions of clothes shopping, I geeked out in one of these stores whenever I had a chance. After all, this was basically the only store that remotely sold anime-related paraphernalia or quirky little bits and pieces. Unfortunately, as a tween, anime was not as popular as now and the section dedicated was tiny in branches I visited. Over the years, the manga book selections have increased but at this particular store, it is still quite limited. For me, this store didn't offer much. I'm not a gamer (board and card) or particilarly comic-book orientated but this store defiantly would meet your needs if you are. There lots of comicbooks, board games, card games, cool artwork books etc... and it is to my understanding that members meet to play and socialise regularly.

The selection in Forbidden Planet is pretty good, but overall subpar compared to other FPs I've…read morevisited. The store itself is greatly in need of a refit, and more importantly the staff are rude and have zero skills in customer service. I said thanks to the guy behind the till as I left and he just blanked me. Great job. There's another comics/manga store just a few doors away, sadly I can't remember it's name, but it's better in every way than this store. Especially customer service.

This branch of The Works is a decent branch of the discount book and stationary chain, located in…read moreNewcastle city centre, fairly close to The Fragrance Shop, O2 and Caffe Nero in the intu Eldon Square shopping mall. This store from the outside is one of the more modern branches of The Works I have seen, instantly giving it a good feel but sadly this seems to fade away as you go into the store, as it is average, just average, kind of like Liverpool fans going into the season saying "Oh this is our year" and what ends up happening? Another trophyless season. The selection of some items was decent, the lever arch selection was good in terms of quantity, but poor in terms of choice as were most other items in this store, maybe down to it being more of a discount retailer than a full on bookshop as one would expect Waterstones to be perhaps. The selection is a bit poor, the store overall isn't great, it is merely average, perhaps just below that, sadly just to warrant a two-star rating.

One of Newcastle's independant record shops, it's tucked away but 5 mins from the Haymarket bus…read morestation. I remember this shop when it was called 'Steel Wheels'. It may have changed to a name of lesser quality but the stock is still decent. This shop sells mostly CD's and vinyl. There is also a selection of DVDs, T-shirts and tickets for local gigs can be purchased here. This place is well worth a browse on your lunch break. There are many hidden treasures to be found. Just think, Aladdins cave without the push and shove of heaving H.M.V. The prices are relatively similar though. The genres range from dub-step to black metal.