Lunch at the Grainger Market: built in 1835, still trading

When Richard Grainger rebuilt the centre of Newcastle in the 1830s, the old Flesh Market was in the way. So he offered to build a new one. John Dobson designed it, and it opened in 1835. The meat market had four long avenues and 180 butchers’ shops. The vegetable market next door was one big open hall. To celebrate, 2,000 guests sat down to a grand dinner in the vegetable market on 24 October 1835. It’s been trading ever since.

Still a market

It’s Grade I listed and has more than 100 businesses, and it’s open from 9am to 5.30pm, Monday to Saturday. It also has what the council calls “perhaps the smallest branch of Marks & Spencer”, the Original Penny Bazaar, a stall that opened in 1895. In March 2026 the council finished a refurbishment that added two new pavilions at either end of the Arcade, new tiling and new entrances. The market stayed open throughout.

“Grainger Market is one of the best, if not the best, of the UK’s purpose-designed indoor markets.” (Tania Love, FaulknerBrowns, the refurbishment’s architects, March 2026)

Where to eat

NE1’s Get Into Newcastle guide lists so many lunch stalls that you need a plan. Here’s ours.

In Alley 1, Snackwallah does vegan Indian street food, including a “Curry of the Day” served with daal, rice and naan. Dumpling & Bun is in Alley 1 too, with handmade Chinese dumplings (pork and cabbage, or tofu and veg) and buns filled with roast duck or char siu. Also in Alley 1, Soju & Gogi does Korean ramen, tteokbokki, bulgogi beef and Korean-style corn dogs.

Over in Alley 3, Pick Thai cooks massaman curry, pad Thai and tom yum noodle soup. Bao Down’s fillings include crispy Peking duck, sticky sesame chicken and barbecue jackfruit. And if you came for something more Geordie, Café One 2 One in the same alley does full English breakfasts, fish, chips and mushy peas, and a roast beef dinner.

In Alley 4, Geordie Bangers serves its sausages in a bun or on a stick, with sausage rolls and pork pies on the side.

It’s closed on Sundays, so go on a Saturday and pace yourself. Two lunches is a perfectly reasonable number.