Gateshead has 'hippest street in Britain' - London apparently 'shamed'

[editor]

Here's a load of tosh in today's Guardian:

It's enough to make a Hoxton fin crawl away and die of mortification: Gateshead has beaten London in a contest to find the hippest street in Britain.

South Shore Road – home to the Lord Foster-designed Sage music centre and the Baltic contemporary arts building – has won the title in a competition run by Google to name the best streets in Britain. The road, which overlooks the "Blinking Eye" millennium bridge (pictured above in the background) and has a view across the water to Newcastle, inspired a recent travel guide to urge visitors to "think Budapest"...

London could only manage third place on the hip list with Whitecross Street, Islington – once known for its poverty and squalor, now for its smart foodie street market. Call Lane, Leeds, came second; Seel Street, Liverpool, and Henry Street, Belfast, fourth and fifth. Park Street, Bristol, best known for its Banksy mural of a naked man dangling from a window ledge – when the council proposed to paint it out five years ago, 96% of local residents voted to keep it – made the long list but not the top five.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jun/06/london-loses-hippest-street-contest-to-gateshead

 

[editor]

Here's the all-important finalists:

The finalists:

Hippest:
South Shore Road, Gateshead
Call Lane, Leeds
Whitecross Street, London
Seel Street, Liverpool
Henry Street, Belfast

Best shopping:
Bondgate Within, Alnwick
Market Place, Kingston
Low Pavement, Nottingham
Lisburn Road, Belfast
The Promenade, Cheltenham

Most Romantic:
Copse Hill Road, Lower Slaughter
Front Street , Bamburgh
The Royal Mile, Edinburgh
Mwnt, Y Ferwig
The A591, Grasmere, Lake District

 

[Orangesanlemons]

I used to live in Call Lane. Pokey flat, had to walk a mile for a pint of milk and a paper, and the sirens and clangings from the Tetley brewery used to wake me up at least twice a night. Still, loved the area.
Actually, thinking back even in the early 90s it felt quite 'hip', even with just a couple of decent restaurants and a bar. Not sure what it's like these days, but I can guess...

 

[machine cat]

I wonder how many of Gateshead's residents benefit directly from the developments of South Shore Road?

 

[_angel_]

The Calls? It's posh, but "hip"?

 

[trevhagl]

I wonder how many of Gateshead's residents benefit directly from the developments of South Shore Road?

the Central bar owners benefit very nicely but i would doubt anyone else does

 

[Deareg]

Fuck knows how they picked Lisburn Rd as the best shopping, would love to know what criteria they used.

 

[newme]

Copse Hill Road, Lower Slaughter - I read that as Corpse hill road, lower slaughter, then wondered wtf anything called that was doing on a most romantic list.....

 

[doddles]

Copse Hill Road, Lower Slaughter - I read that as Corpse hill road, lower slaughter, then wondered wtf anything called that was doing on a most romantic list.....

Well, compared to Higher Slaughter, it's still got a bit of life to it...

 

[redsquirrel]

The Calls? It's posh, but "hip"?

I thought that but apparently Call Lane is different to the Calls, at least according to google map.
Call Lane is what becomes Vicar Lane after the Corn Exchange
http://maps.google.com.au/maps?client=safari&q=Call+Ln,+Leeds,+United+Kingdom&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF8&hl=en&geocode=FavaNAMd3nzo_w&split=0&sll=53.794883,-1.539228&sspn=0.006295,0.006295&hq=&hnear=Call+Ln,+Leeds,+United+Kingdom&ll=53.796057,-1.53947&spn=0.003618,0.007596&z=17

 

[Edie]

Call Lane is the one with Revolution and Normans on it. It's just classic Leeds- miniskirts, heels, slap and flirt flirt flirt Not sure I'd put that in the 'hip' category though.

 

[krink]

If you get off the metro at gateshead and try to walk down to the baltic etc and you don't really know the place you'll end up having to risk life and limb negotiating the traffic on an anything but cool street in gateshead! Gateshead is Newcastle's bitch - it has the coolest side of the river but the town itself only gets the crumbs...