The Palace of Arts is the last building left standing from the North East Coast Exhibition of 1929, opened by the Prince of Wales and seen by something over 4 million visitors across a single summer. Grade II listed, it went on to serve half a century as the city’s science museum and then housed a collection of military vehicles, and by the time it came up for sale it was empty and sorry-looking. Wylam Brewery took it on and reopened the doors in May 2016, comfortably one of the happier things to have happened to a Newcastle building this century.
What that gives you is a wedding venue with an address nowhere else in the city can match: a grand civic building in the middle of a public park, with the boating lake and the tree-lined walks outside the door, yet close enough to the centre that guests can walk back to their hotel. It feels green and unhurried without ever stopping being a city venue.
Inside, the Grand Hall carries the full marriage licence, and it is the dome that does the persuading — you walk down the aisle with daylight pouring in from above. Three bars and a gin palace look after the drinking, the beer in your glass was brewed a few feet away on the same premises, and the food runs from a modern turn on British classics to a street-food spread.
Where the band plays
Here is the happy part: the Grand Hall is a working live music venue in its own right, putting on gigs and club nights week in, week out, so everything a band needs is already thought about — power, an understood get-in, staff who have seen a drum kit before. It is a big, high room, and it flatters a full line-up: a five or six-piece with horns and strong vocals will sound magnificent under that ceiling, where a trio would want a good engineer to help it fill the space. Agree the stage position early so the dancefloor sits between the band and the bars.
Ceremony under the dome, and the drinks hour
For the ceremony, the hall’s height and daylight suit unamplified music beautifully, and a harpist, string quartet or classical guitarist needs no help to be heard. Outdoors is the opposite case, since an open park thins an acoustic instrument to almost nothing, so anything played on the grass wants a small PA behind it. With guests drifting between the bars, the gin palace and the park, a roaming acoustic act keeps a spread-out reception feeling like one occasion.
How the evening runs
The venue doesn’t publish a finish time, so ask for yours when you book, along with any conditions on amplified music — a listed building standing in a public park will have its own arrangements. The shape is the reliable one: dinner, speeches, a first dance called promptly so the band plays two full sets to a busy room, then the bars for whoever is still going. With the city centre minutes away, hotels and taxis are the easiest part of the plan, and load-in means a service route through the park rather than the front steps, so settle the access point and an arrival window in advance.
Bands available in Newcastle upon Tyne and perfectly at home in a venue like this.
More live music in Newcastle upon Tyne.
- Newcastle upon Tyne Wedding Bands
- Newcastle upon Tyne Events Bands
- Tribute Acts in Newcastle upon Tyne
- Wedding DJs in Newcastle upon Tyne
- Corporate Entertainment in Newcastle upon Tyne
Worth reading before you book: Sound Limiters Explained. More questions answered on our England & Wales FAQs.