Newcastle-upon-Tyne is situated in the North-East of England, and was famous in the old days for its coal and steel production, and the ship building industry on the river Tyne and the river Wear at Sunderland (people still object if you try to take coals to Newcastle, according to the old saying).

Nowadays it is more famous for its football team, Newcastle United, also known The Magpies (because of the black-and-white colour of the team strip) or Toon Army ('toon' being the local word for "town").

Newcastle is also renowned for being the eigth best night out in the world. There are millions of places to eat and drink, some of which are situated in Newcastle itself, but the centre for drinking is undoubtably the Big Market area. This used to be a market, as did the Haymarket, Grassmarket and Greenmarket (the latter still is).