Why the North East is the Creative Place to be
It’s fair to say, the good old capital gets a lot of hype. Year after year, new, eager, bright-eyed and bushy tailed students/graduates venture to London expecting to one day return to their home town with a whole new ‘cooler’ persona and a suitcase full of stories. The fashion, the art, the music, the atmosphere. I thought the same at 18 years old (and I am currently in no way cooler than I was when I was 18, only a teeny tiny bit wiser).Since graduating from university in London, I have visited more places and experienced a whole lot more things! London is a vast city, but maybe that doesn’t mean better? There are so many incredible cities and towns I wish I knew about before putting those blinkers on. Here in the north east, the creativity is through the ceiling and I’ve said to myself many times, “I wish I came here for Uni”.
The Northern School of Art is where I spend 3 days a week working on exciting videos, blog posts, podcasts, photoshoots plus so much more. Before I bagged my job here, I visited once as a guest lecturer and I couldn’t believe my eyes when I walked through the double doors. The charisma and charm of the buildings sold me instantly, not to mention the plethora of creatives who walk the halls and teach everyday. I muttered, “why didn’t I come here?” as there is pretty much everything you could want of a place to hone your creativity. In the heart, there’s a bustling centre with a cinema, restaurants and shopping centres. If you venture further towards the coast you’ll find the Marina and Hartlepool Headland, which are the tourist hotspots with museums, beautiful churches, monuments, a lighthouse and picturesque views.
Hartlepool is just a stone’s throw from the bustling centre of Middlesbrough, where the creative bubble is constantly growing and the buzz of the town hums through the streets. The ‘regen’ of Bakers Street and Bedford Street has birthed quirky vintage shops and micro pubs (Sherlocks’ interior replicates Sherlock Holmes’ front room!), Orange Pip Market, Gin Bars and accompanies all the highstreet shops you can imagine, a huge cinema, galleries by day, nightclubs by night. I couldn’t possibly state everything but take my word for it, Middlesbrough is great.
Below, we’ve rounded up a list of just a few places in the Teesside and surrounding area that are great for work opportunities and goals!
