- Play Hard
- 11th Sep 2026
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Newbiggin-by-the-Sea is currently making waves on the Northumberland coast – here’s why
Newbiggin-by-the-Sea is having a moment, and it’s easy to see why.
This former fishing port and colliery town on the Northumberland coast has spent years getting on with things while Alnwick and Hexham have been in the limelight.
Now there’s a seafront sauna, dolphins cruising the bay and a new restaurant serving up a dining experience that’s a first for the North East.
If you’re after a chilled coastal day out, Newbiggin-by-the-Sea is one of the region’s most underrated spots, and it isn’t going to stay that way for long.
A BEACH THAT STOPS YOU IN YOUR TRACKS
Sunrises turn the water gold, gulls take turns perching on The Couple’s shoulders, and dolphins, seals and otters regularly make an appearance in the bay.
The town was once a working port shipping grain, then a colliery town until Newbiggin Colliery closed in 1967. Today it’s a small fishing port built around the ‘piazza’ and the High Street behind it, and it’s been welcoming visitors for far longer than you’d think: as early as 1828, Newbiggin was already a popular beach resort with five public houses, one boasting its own spa-like bathing facilities.
HISTORY YOU CAN ACTUALLY TOUCH
Start at Newbiggin Maritime Centre, where the town’s fishing, tourism and mining history is laid out across three galleries. Inside you’ll find the Girl Anne fishing coble and the Mary Joicey, Newbiggin’s last all-weather lifeboat, housed in what the centre says is the oldest operational lifeboat station in the UK.
There’s a sea-view café for a coffee stop, a Seashore Shop for gifts, and a calendar that runs to an annual Kite Festival, live music gigs and film screenings throughout the year.
Round the headland, the 13th-century St Bartholomew’s Church stands at Church Point too, looking out over the same water Newbiggin’s fishermen have worked for centuries.
THE UK’S FIRST OFFSHORE SCULPTURE
Walk the promenade, at just over a mile, the longest in Northumberland, and you’ll spot The Couple long before you reach it. Sean Henry’s sculpture has stood in the bay since 2007, the UK’s first permanent offshore artwork, and the pair gaze out to sea, looking their most photogenic against a sunset. A smaller version, Land Couple, sits on the promenade itself for a closer look.
The stretch of promenade by Church Point is the perfect spot for a sunrise shot, with The Couple in frame and the North Sea stretching out behind, and it’s a popular spot for dolphin watching too.
It’s just one stop on the free Newbiggin Art Trail, which strings together more than 50 pieces of public art across town, from puffin sculptures to carved totems, and takes around two hours to walk in full. Beach wheelchairs are available to hire, and accessible ramps lead straight onto the sand.
A DAY BY THE SEA
Beyond the beach, there’s plenty to fill a day. The RNLI Lifeboat Station is worth a look for the Atlantic 85 lifeboat alone, and the shop behind it sells everything from buckets and spades to gifts, while Newbiggin Rocket House, just behind, tells the story of the rescue rockets once used to save lives at sea.
WHERE TO EAT, DRINK AND WARM UP
Café Needle’s Eye on the promenade is the spot for brunch with a sea view, and it shares its home with Newbiggin Surf Company, so a coffee can turn into a paddleboard session, wetsuit included, without you moving from the same building. When you fancy something a little more bracing, the café also runs a Himalayan salt sauna with a cold-water plunge in the North Sea.
For chips, The Front on Front Street was named Best Fish and Chip Shop in Northumberland at the England’s Business Awards, and later picked up the National Federation of Fish Friers’ quality accreditation too.
For something slower, head to The Ink Spot, a dog-friendly micropub with an ever-changing line-up of craft ales, gins and cocktails, or The Old Ship for a proper pub lunch and a beer garden by the beach.
Caffe Bertorelli’s Art Deco surroundings are worth a stop for homemade gelato and Italian coffee, and Due Fratelli runs a three-course lunch special for under a tenner and serves Sunday lunch.
The newest addition to Newbiggin’s food scene is Twelve06 Mongolian Grill on High Street, the North East’s first live-fire Mongolian grill experience. It’s a build-your-own affair: pick a base, proteins, vegetables and sauce, and watch it all get forged fresh on the open grill. Mornings bring cast-iron breakfast classics, freshly baked bread and proper coffee, with a Tuesday and Thursday steak night on the way, aged flat iron served sizzling on a volcanic stone.
SHOPPING AND SEA GLASS TREASURE
Glebe House Vintage is worth the detour if you love interiors, a shop run by mother-and-daughter team Ami and Judith and stocked full of hand-painted furniture, homeware and vintage finds. Just outside, the Book Nook is a free community library and book exchange.
Newbiggin’s beach is also a favourite spot on this stretch of coast for sea glass hunting, especially below the golf club. The Sea Glass Company runs guided sea glass safaris that end with a wire-wrapping workshop, so you can turn your finds into a keepsake to take home. For arts and crafts closer to town, Newbiggin Arts Centre hosts workshops for all ages and exhibits local artists’ work.
NEED TO KNOW
Parking in Newbiggin is free, though it’s worth checking signage for restrictions. The 35 bus runs to Morpeth and Ashington, and the X21 connects the town to Newcastle.
Dogs are welcome across the whole beach from 1st October to 30th April. Between 1st May and 30th September, a dog exclusion zone covers parts of the beach, so check the signs on arrival.
Newbiggin-by-the-Sea has had all this going for it for years. Now’s the time to go and see it for yourself.
Rachael Ellis
Head of Content
After gaining a first in her BA Media and Journalism degree at Northumbria University, Rachael worked at Newcastle’s leading regional newspaper with her stories being picked up in national and global newspapers. She spent two very successful years giving a voice to those communities across the North East who otherwise…
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