Laing Art Gallery

Laing is a smallish but distinguished, well-​maintained gallery of «traditional» art, with an emphasis on the 18^th and 19^th centuries (both British and international). It is housed in an ambitiously designed building that fuses old and new architecture. It looks much bigger from outside, the actual galleries are few and small. Expect to spend nor more than 1 hour at this place, which makes it perfect for a rainy day (which this was).
Laing Art Gallery is located on the corner of New Bridge St. and John Dobson Street (opposite of the bus stop where many of the cross-​country bus services, by like Megabus, stop). Its permanent collection is free of charge. and contrary to what I had read previously in forums, I DID take non-​flash photos and didn’t do it secretly, so it’s allowed.
Don’t expect too much though: While there are indeed several masterpieces by British (Holman Hunt, Burne-​Jones, Alma-​Tadema) and international painters, the total number of paintings is low, and there’s mostly exactly 1 painting per master. This might have to more with the size of the exhibition space than the actual collection, as their website claims that paintings are exchanged regularly to «show the impressive range of art».
Anyway, compared to the faux and crap modern art at The Baltic Centre on the other side of Newcastle’s city centre, Laing is pure gold. There are also examples of local and regional crafts and arts.
See some photos for reference.

This was the discovery of the day! The gallery is centrally located, not very big in size but with charming external and internal design. Its two floors burst with exhibitions. There were paintings of old Newcastle, 18^th and 19^th century portraits, a contemporary exhibition on an art debate of heavy metal T-​shirts and the best surprise for me was a lovely photo exhibition of the 60s and 70s called ‘From Beatles to Bowie’, where curious photos of most of my favourite bands and singers were exhibited: Rolling stones, the young face of David Bowie, some of their vinyls and posters, among the celebrities were Shirley Bassey, Helen Shapiro, Yoko Ono and others.
The gallery has two art shops, a very pleasant café and an excellent children’s playing area.

What I love about the UK is free access to museums and arts.
The museum is full of great local and national art. Most focuses on the local environment and community and really brings the city to life providing a great insight in its past.
Small coffee shop at very reasonable prices made for a welcome stop during our 2 hours of perusing.