Recently, I've read several reviews on my home city, Newcastle upon Tyne. It's a place I've always been quite touchy about; when I went away to university I was quite defensive on the subject because I feared that people would think less of me because of where I came from. I think part of it was to do with inverted snobbery, I looked down on my hometown, especially when I moved away and saw other places.

When I left, Newcastle was a very down to earth place. Most people you met were from the city, in contrast to today as many companies are relocating to the north east because of ever rising costs in London and the south east. This has resulted in an increase in the number of people with a decent disposable income and retailers, house builders and leisure companies have taken advantage of this.

Although this is not my idea of a good night out, I must say that the interior of some of these bars is fantastic and puts the quality of such establishments on a par with ones in the capital. If this is the kind of place you enjoy, I would recommend a couple: Stereo is situated just off the quayside near the Law Courts and offers fantastic views of the Millennium (Blinking Eye) Bridge and gets in some great guest DJs; Apartment is a bar/club/restaurant on Collingwood Street near the Central Station is very new and is fast gaining a reputation as the hippest place in town, with it's VIP room and the most expensive bottle of champagne in the city at around 900 pounds! Coco V, just opposite the station is worthy of a mention because of it's amazing North African inspired decor.

Newcastle has quite a good selection of restaurants and I am glad to say that new places are opening all the time. For some years we seemed only to have cheap and cheerful pizza joints but there you can now chose from food from all over the globe.

Peruvian food can be had in the restaurant at the Cooperage pub on the quayside (an ancient half-timbered building); superb tapas and paella is on the menu at El Torero (The Side, by the quayside) and there are others serving Thai, Chinese, Indian, Greek and global cuisine, as well as plenty of pubs serving locally produced food.

Newcastle lost out earlier this year to Liverpool for the honour of being named European City of Culture for 2008. This was a heavy blow for the city which has, in recent years, spent much on raising it's cultural profile by strenghtening it's existing features and developing new visitor attractions and staging prestigious events.

Nearby the Discovery Museum is similar in that it encourages children to investigate what is around them and to participate whilst visiting the musuem.

Moving down to the quayside and you are met by the sight of the seven bridges which span the River Tyne. If you go onto one of the higher bridges you will get the best views. The newest bridge is of course the Millennium Bridge or the (Blinking) Eye as it is known by the locals. The bridge has won many awards for design, architecture and engineering and it's not hard to see why. The opens and tilts (like the opening of an eye) to allow boats to pass through to go up or down the river. It's a pedestrian/cyclist only bridge and it links the Newcastle quayside area with the new Baltic Quays on the Gateshead side.

The Hancock Musuem, near the University, is another popular attraction and covers natural history and local ancient history. Just out of town is the Biscuit Factory (no prizes for guessing what this building used to be!) which shows contemporary local art (paintings, glass, ceramics, etc) much of which is for sale. There is also a fine restaurant in the form of Barn Again, which serves modern global cuisine.

As well as football, we have rugby union side, the Newcastle Falcons - home team of World Cup hero Jonny Wilkinson - who play just outside the city near the airport and Gateshead Stadium just across the river hosts major athletics championships - the region has a strong athletics tradtion and we've always backed our home grown talent - Steve Cram, Jonathan Edwards, Brendan Foster to name but a couple.

The two universities and the vast Telewest Arena host all kinds of bands and this year Newcastle has seen the likes of Electric Six, The Darkness, Simply Red, UB40, The Flaming Lips, Placebo, the Stereophonics and many more.

There is plenty for history enthusiasts to see along Hadrians Wall and this year saw the official opening of a path which now allows walkers to follow the entire length of the Wall.

Go down to High Bridge for some cool clubbing and skaters fashions, great independent record shops and Attica, just round the corner which sells fantastic vintage clothes and furnishings.