Alnwick
Created | Updated Mar 6, 2008
Alnwick [An-ick]
A market town in the North East of England. It serves as the center for the Alnwick District, and had a population of 7,100 at the time of the 2001 census.
With more pubs/clubs than you can shake a stick at, the hitch-hiker looking for a good night out would be wise to make a stop in Alnwick. From the glitz and glamour of "The Hairy Lemon", to the run down (and watered down and extremely cheap beer) of "Ye Olde Cross", or "The Dirty Bottles" as it is nicknamed due to the extremely old bottles (and extremely dirty) in the window, with the story of anyone who moves the bottles instantly dies. Be it from a curse, or you just get attacked by the owners for ruining their tourist attraction.
For any hitch-hiker's planning on making a stay in Alnwick, consult the local Tourist Information for Bed and Breakfasts and hotels. I'd use The Queen's Head Hotel, slap bang in the center of the town, with a nice, moderately priced pub below it.
If you're interested in shopping, there are several decent retail chain stores here, Woolworths, WHSmiths (with an accompanying bookshop) and... Well, that's about it, really. There are now two supermarkets, Morrisons and Sainsbury's, along with three small markets, Co-op x2 and Iceland.
Alnwick is home to one of the largest second-hand bookstores in Europe, Barter Books. Inside what was once a train station, still with Victorian fittings, such as a still working coal fireplace, it is an extortionately priced bookshop which also buys your books for a pittance.
Alnwick features a "Hardy Greys" which sells top quality fishing rods, made on site. Also available from Hardy Greys, Tank shell casings.
One of Alnwick's most popular (to students) fixtures is the hilarious Alnwick North Animation company. What started as two teenagers creating cartoons about their local area (mainly insulting it), became one of Alnwick teens main sources of Internet fun, apart from watching/uploading "Happy Slapping" footage on Youtube. After a mishap with a web designer, the two Animators started a new animation venture, called Alnwick North ReAnimation. Sadly, with a constant change in styles, the animations aren't updated often, although, sometimes you can catch them on their Myspace page,
http://www.myspace.com/alnwicknorthreanimation"
Enjoy them while they're up! You never know, it might get updated some time.
Alnwick has been host to several recording crews in the past. With Harry Potter having some outdoor shots recorded at Alnwick Castle, Blackadder I being recorded also in the Castle, a Dracula film and a Whoopie Goldberg film (One of those plentiful, modern person travels to Medieval times films.
