Corporate Christmas Party Venues in North Shields

North Shields is a good town for a Christmas dinner and an awkward one for a Christmas ball. No hotel here has a banqueting suite, so the choice is threefold: a sit-down for twenty to sixty on the Fish Quay, a bigger and far cheaper room at a sports club or community hall, or the Metro into Newcastle for anything over about two hundred. What follows is ordered by headcount, then by shared night against exclusive hire.

Shared night, or a room of your own

A shared or joiner night is seats at a table in a big room alongside other companies, priced per head. North Shields does not sell it: no venue here publishes a joiner night with a date and a price attached, which is worth knowing before you spend a fortnight on the phone. What the town does sell is exclusive hire, quoted as room hire plus a bar with catering brought in rather than bundled. More organising, far less money.

Best for: No published joiner nights in the town. Exclusive hire of a club or hall is the local value play.

Past a hundred: the warehouse, the clubhouse and the hall

Salt Market Social in the Blue Warehouse on Liddell Street is the biggest room on the Quay: upstairs takes 120 to 400 guests, the Loading Bay downstairs handles smaller gatherings, and the food vendor is your choice. Work parties and Christmas nights are explicitly on its list, quoted per booking.

Percy Park RFC on Preston Avenue, founded in 1872, has the largest hireable room in the town: a clubhouse for up to 350, seating around 300 at long tables or 200 at round ones, with two bars, a balcony over the pitches, a PA and partitioning. Corporate events are among the functions it takes, with catering and a disco arranged on request, but there is no package to buy.

The Linskill Centre is the civic option: Trevelyan Hall up to 250 with a stage, foyer and bar area, Burnett Hall up to 100, onsite catering, an alcohol licence and free parking for a hundred cars.

Smaller again, Tynemouth Cricket Club is on Preston Avenue in North Shields despite the name and hires out Bar 1847, its refurbished clubhouse bar, with a cash bar and catering available, while Percy Main Community Sports Club lets its St John's Green hall, fifty-space car park included. One honest note: North Shields F.C. publishes no function hire at the Daren Persson Stadium, so ask rather than assume.

The room in the town centre

The Exchange 1856 on Howard Street is the venue everyone thinks of first. The restored Grade II listed corn exchange has five spaces and takes anything from intimate private dining to parties of up to 200: Brown's Bar and Kitchen holds 150 with its own bar, a terrace and a private courtyard, The Loft 100 under a vaulted arched ceiling, and the J. Dobson Suite is the banqueting room. There is an event planner, food and drink packages and a festive menu each December, but no published party-night price, so ask for the brochure early: it books a long way out.

Best for: One venue in North Shields does a proper banqueting room. Enquire in September, not November.

A table for twenty to sixty

How Do You Do on Hudson Street is the practical pick: a function room taking 20 to 200, tailored to the booking, buffet or sit-down from the main menu, Christmas parties included. The Staith House on Low Lights is the best cooking on the Quay and holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand, but it is small and publishes no festive package, so phone.

Sambuca on Union Quay runs pizza to steak and seafood with river views, and Twelve Twenty Five alongside does cocktails and comfort food. Lobo Rojo in the Irvin Building serves Mexican sharing plates, better for a standing party than a sit-down, and Allard's on the Quay keeps a private space bookable for functions. For the drinks half of the evening, The Juke Shed has cask ale and live music.

Something other than a dinner

Gutterball Alley on Rotary Way, by Meadow Well Metro, is bowling lanes plus arcades, darts, pool, mini golf, roller skating and karaoke. Game Changer packages start from £13 a head off peak, the festive package pairs a game of bowling with an hour of another activity and a drink, and bigger groups are quoted bespoke. All ages until 9pm, over-18s after, step free with parking outside.

For a dozen, Enigma Tap off Northumberland Square is small enough that you are effectively taking it over, and The Gunner on Trevor Terrace runs a Festive Fayre menu with tables bookable online.

Before you pay the deposit

Get the capacity for the layout you are booking: Percy Park's 350 becomes about 200 once round tables go in, and that pattern holds everywhere. Establish who is cooking, because at Salt Market Social and the club rooms catering is arranged, not included. A cash bar, a tab and a drinks package are three products at three prices, so settle that too. Ask what comes with the room (PA, screen, DJ) and when the licence ends, then get cancellation terms in writing: December balances fall due weeks ahead.

Getting everyone home

North Shields, Meadow Well and Percy Main are all on the Tyne and Wear Metro, which covers most of this list: Linskill is a short walk from North Shields station, Gutterball sits beside Meadow Well, and Preston Avenue is walkable from either. The Fish Quay is the exception, a walk down the bank and a less appealing one back up at midnight. The Metro does not run through the night, and the last trains from the city centre towards the coast go before midnight, so book the taxis when you book the room.

Best for: Book the venue, then book the way home.

Know a North Shields venue that should be on this list? Get in touch.