Until the Industrial Revolution led to the exploitation of its enormous coalfield in the 19th century, the mediaeval county of Durham was relatively unimportant economically. As a result, it became one of the primary hubs of industrial expansion in Britain. The county was the location of the first passenger railway in history, which ran between Stockton and Darlington and was put into service in 1825. Darlington developed become a hub for locomotive manufacturing and railroad engineering. Gateshead, Hartlepool, Jarrow, South Shields, and Sunderland are some of the other Durham cities that have grown to be hubs for heavy industry, particularly shipbuilding and the manufacturing of iron and steel.

Join us on our walking tour of Durham as we explore its medieval architecture including its gothic church aesthetics; expanding on the history of several buildings and areas of Durham that you may not know about!

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Tickets are to go on sale this morning for the hugely popular Santa on the Roof events which are a highlight of the festive season at Fenwick in Newcastle.

The city centre store announced the return of the children’s treat as part of its Christmas programme which, besides the grand unveiling of its annual window display, will include the popular Santa’s Cinema, breakfast and supper clubs with the big man and – new for this year – an afternoon tea event.

Santa on the Roof is an immersive experience which sees elves accompany ticket-holders on a Santa’s Express Elevator ride to the store’s rooftop to meet singing reindeer before they take an ‘elf-mobile’ to meet Santa in his cabin. It will be back this year from November 7 up until Christmas Eve, December 24 and this will go on sale first.

Tickets, costing £17.50, will be available from Thursday, September 29. And families will need to be quick off the mark as they are always quickly snapped up.

Sales of Fenwick’s other seasonal experiences, running November and December, will follow in October. These will include tickets for Santa’s Breakfast Club, Santa’s Supper Club, Santa’s Cinema and the new event, Afternoon Tea with Santa.

This year, Fenwick’s says that all restaurant experiences do not include a visit to Santa on the Roof as part of the experience so this must be purchased separately. And, due to the acticipated high demand, Fenwick ticket provider Ticketsource will be providing a virtual queue to help manage bookings. The advice for keen customers – from the moment they join the queue – is to avoid loading multiple tabs or refreshing their browser.

The Santa on the Roof experience will also offer youngsters a chance to enjoy craft activities with the elves, including decorating a bespoke ceramic plate to take home, and there will a stop-off too at Café Claus for winter-warming drinks and sweet treats along with an opportunity to take an ‘Elfie’ inside Santa’s sleigh, says the store.

Santa’s Cinema, screening festive family films, will be located on the fifth floor of the department store from Thursday, November 10 and will cost £17.50. Adults will be able to choose between a complimentary mulled wine or spiced apple juice and young ones can enjoy hot chocolate or juice plus plenty popcorn.

There also will be a Roof Thirty-Nine Pre-Cinema Experience available for £35 where, before the film screening, guests will be able to take in the view from Fenwick’s roof-top restaurant alongside a cocktail, nibbles and a main course.

This year the festive breakfast and supper club events will take place inside Fenwick’s new Arthur’s Restaurant on the first floor. Santa’s Breakfast Club will run on Thursday, Friday and Saturday mornings from Friday, November 9 until Friday, December 23, offering waffles, eggs and sausages. Young guests will receive elf hats and colouring books before meeting the mischievous elves and Santa for a picture and Christmas gift. Tickets will be £20.

Since Revolution arrived to Newcastle in 2001, on the corner of Collingwood Street and Pudding Chare, they have established themselves to be one of Newcastle’s most loved bars and have served some of the city’s best cocktails and food for the last 21 years.

The UK’s premier vodka bar is reopening on 13^th May, just in time for summer, showcasing it’s remarkable transformation. A £190,000 investment will make way for an eye-catching, open plan look, centered around a luxury, VIP, vibrant feel, perfect to capture those all-important Insta moments. Revolution will of course be paying tribute to their much-loved home of Newcastle, with new striking décor showcasing Newcastle’s very own Angel of the North with a vodka twist taking main stage.

The refurbishment brings a brand new ‘best seat’ VIP booth and updated seating areas with a new lighting show and DJ booth. This deluxe renovated best seat VIP booths will allow guests to get to the heart of the party and provide the perfect private place for any celebration or all-important special occasions with DJ’s and bespoke party packages.

The refurbished venue will be the perfect location to cater for lunchtime diners, after work drinks, evening get-togethers, and of course, late-night partying with the finest local DJ talent and events.

The brand is also continuing its mission to be carbon neutral by 2030, after hitting the headlines in 2021 for their forward-thinking tactics. One of just a handful of UK-based companies to sign up to the pledge to hit net zero, the Revolution Bars Group won the prestigious Green Apple Award for Environmental Best Practice for their commitment to the scheme.

One notable change for the brand was the decision to remove the passion fruit halves from its Pornstar Martini cocktail, replacing them with a rice paper alternative. Prior to removing passion fruit from their bestselling cocktail (Revolution sell over 1m across the UK each year), they were shipping 36 tonnes from South America to the UK, only for them to be used as garnish. The group has also continued their drive to reduce energy usage, dropping this by an impressive 19% since 2017.

With summer on it’s way, Revolution has also welcomed a brand-new special Cocktail menu – with 4 American-themed Cocktails to complement their classic concoctions. The bespoke menu is made up of the Malibu Beach Bae, Tennessee Cherry Sour, Hollywood Highball, and Gold Rush.

Revolution Newcastle Sales and Events Manager, Meagan Hill, said:

“I am super excited for the venue to reopen with its new look on the 13th May. The refurbishment includes an updated look to our beautiful Grade 2 listed building, highlighting the historic bank features, with a Revolution twist.”

“We can’t wait to kick off our relaunch with a huge agenda, starting on Thursday 26th May with the launch of our new Bottomless Dinner, on Friday we are hosting our corporate re-launch event and then going onto our main event of the week – our huge Saturday re-launch party. We have such an exciting line up of big entertainment including DJ’s, sax players, percussionists and so much more across the weekend – this will be a party like no other at Revolution Newcastle”

“We’ve spent a lot of time reviewing our guests’ feedback and we know that they expect great quality and excellent service. We have undergone a big recruitment push and training program to ensure our team, old and new, are ready to deliver the best party in town and welcome guests into our venue for our exciting launch party.”