Nicholas Craig column

Dec 17 2004 By Nicholas Craig, The Journal

The long-awaited opening of the Sage today is music to my ears. I am delighted that we will all, at last, see inside the extraordinary £70m building which has shimmered into life over the last four years.

The Sage offers music in many guises - a 25-room music education centre, recording studio, music information centre, performance and rehearsal spaces and an entertainment suite. It also provides, crucially, a banquet of bars, brasseries and café.

My belief is that the choice of good places in which to eat and relax can make or break a visitor attraction. However spectacular the architecture and its contents, we are a café society, who enjoy snacking and sipping while taking in the music, art, sport or scenery.

Restaurateurs have not been slow to see the benefits of the Gateshead and Newcastle Quaysides as a prime location. A new company is taking over the Baltic's lower floor restaurant, and its dynamic manager, Sarah Hedley, promises superb quality in a unique location. Her restaurant is the only one from which you can enjoy your meal outside on the riverfront, watching the Millennium bridge slowly rise and fall, with the unparalleled backdrop of the Newcastle Quayside buildings.

The Baltic, Hilton and the spectacular Sage itself open up new reasons to visit Gateshead quayside for a day out. The quality of the experience begins with the art or music, but includes the need for comfort, good service and excellent food. They transform a one-dimensional excursion into a memorable experience.

According to a European lifestyle survey by the Wall Street Journal, we in Britain go out to eat more often than the residents of any other northern European country, including France. Apparently 71pc of us eat out more than once a month. Newcastle, sprouting new places in which to enjoy culture and feed the soul, needs just as many new opportunities in which to feed the body.

Sarah Hedley is astutely seeking out ways in which to encourage businesses to hire and use facilities. The corporate market is an important one, which needs careful handling because local companies, unlike the visitors, are here 12 months a year.

Music may be the food of love, but the choice of snacks, meals and drinks is one of the reasons we will repeat our visit and allow the Sage to play on.