Cluny | Newcastle Ouseburn Music Venue

The Cluny on Lime Street in Ouseburn is the anchor venue for Newcastle’s most creatively significant neighbourhood. A mid-capacity live music venue and bar in a converted warehouse building, the Cluny has been the place where a generation of Newcastle music fans discovered the acts that mattered to them before they became too large to play rooms of this size. That track record is the venue’s most important quality.

The Room

The Cluny is a proper venue – a stage at the far end of a warehouse space, a bar along one wall, a capacity that puts the crowd and the band in the same room rather than in different zones of a large arena. The sound system is well-maintained and the sightlines work. When a good act plays the Cluny at capacity, the energy in the room is the specific energy of a crowd that is close enough to the stage to feel personally engaged with what is happening.

The Booking History

The Cluny’s booking record over two decades covers an enormous range of acts at an early stage in careers that subsequently became significant. Arctic Monkeys, Arcade Fire, The National, Jeff Buckley tribute acts that turned out to be the real thing – the Cluny has a reputation for being in the right place at the right time in terms of music. The booking team continues to programme thoughtfully. The early-career spotting continues.

The Bar and Wider Space

The Cluny operates as a bar on non-gig nights with a crowd drawn from the Ouseburn creative community. The beer selection is properly Tyneside-focused. The outdoor space – a terrace area accessed from the main bar – is used in good weather. The atmosphere on a quiet night has the relaxed confidence of somewhere that does not need to promote itself.

The Neighbourhood

The Cluny is at the centre of the Ouseburn Valley venue cluster. The Tyne Bar, Cumberland Arms, Free Trade Inn and Cluny 2 are all within easy walking distance. An Ouseburn evening based around the Cluny and its immediate neighbours is the Newcastle music experience that most closely reflects what makes the city distinctive.