Sam Fender’s “incredible” weekend at St James' Park delivered an astonishing boost of at least £15m for the North East economy, business chiefs say.
The North Shields singer-songwriter played two sell-out gigs to more than 100,000 adoring fans who flocked to Newcastle on Friday and Saturday, in what rapidly became an iconic moment for the city. The homecoming concerts, combined with the annual Blaydon Race on Friday night, produced an electric atmosphere on Tyneside and have left city bosses purring at the cultural and economic legacy that the weekend has left.
Stephen Patterson, chief executive of the NE1 Ltd business improvement district company, praised the “huge celebration of Newcastle, the city, its people and its musical and sporting history”. Initial estimates of the events’ impact on the regional economy have suggested they were worth at least £15m.
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Mr Patterson said that Newcastle city centre businesses reported takings being “significantly up”, adding: “Hats off to Sam, his team and NUFC for putting on such a fantastic show. It highlighted what a spectacular asset we have in St James’ Park.
"A rare city centre Premier League stadium with all that the city has to offer literally a short walk away. It is massively important for the city to host events of this scale and calibre and we need more of them.”
Chi Onwurah, the Labour MP for Newcastle Central, said the Sam Fender concerts would be remembered for "years to come" and showcased Newcastle as a "beacon of artistic creativity". Newcastle City Council leader Nick Kemp hailed the sun-drenched weekend of Geordie culture as the city “at its vibrant best”.
He added: “With Sam Fender selling out St James’ Park on consecutive nights and the annual Blaydon Races on Friday, we’ve had more than 100,000 people coming into Newcastle for these three huge events alone, on top of our regular weekend visitors, all contributing to an incredible atmosphere.
“Newcastle is renowned for holding major events and we love staging them here, but it takes a huge collective effort to make sure everything runs smoothly. I’d like to give huge thanks to our council teams who were out over the weekend and whose planning and preparation helped people to have a great time and enjoy themselves."
It was a huge weekend for the North East as a whole, with P!NK also staging two massive gigs at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light and the Durham Regatta being held. Ian Thomas, destination director for the NewcastleGateshead Initiative, called the weekend a "phenomenal example of regional pride".
He said: "There was a united and electric atmosphere in the region, as people enjoyed everything we have to offer. We predicted a conservative boost of £15 million to the local economy, but we expect the actual figure to be beyond these expectations, when accounting for spend across the whole supply chain.
"Hotels across Newcastle and Gateshead were at around 95% occupancy, and anecdotal feedback from tourism and hospitality businesses across the city indicate a significant boost in footfall and spend over the weekend. This weekend was unlike anything we’ve experienced as a region and we’re already looking forward to how we can build on this momentum, ensure that we are in a position to continue to attract events of this scale and provide the most inclusive welcome to the North East.”
John McCabe, chief executive of the North East England Chamber of Commerce, said: “These events give our region’s businesses the chance to thrive, and this weekend our shops, bars and restaurants, as well as our cultural venues, succeeded in putting us on the national stage.”
For transport bosses, the weekend presented an unprecedented challenge with sell-out concerts happening at opposite ends of the Tyne and Wear Metro system. Some Metro stations in Newcastle had to be shut down for safety reasons on Saturday night, as they would have been incapable of coping with the number of people leaving the Sam Fender concert and P!NK fans coming back from Sunderland.
Customer Services Director at Nexus, Huw Lewis, said: “The public transport network was extremely busy at the weekend, carrying up to 100,000 customers journeys, alongside our regular users, getting people to and from the concerts on Metro and on buses. However, there was a great atmosphere, and everyone had a smile on their face.
“The feedback from customers has been overwhelmingly positive. We’ve never had to host two sold out stadium concerts on the same night. That was a new challenge for us, but we have risen to that challenge really well. Our teams and volunteers worked tirelessly over the weekend to ensure everyone got home safely."
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