What your Jesmond street says about you

With a cavalry of First Years now descending on Newcastle’s studentland looking for places to live next year, we’ve decided to give you a low-down of the infamous streets of Newcastle’s main student zone. Jesmond is, quite possibly, the poshest student area in the country – but some are posher than others, and each street has a personality of its own.

Manor House Road

We’ll start with Ricky Road v2, and with the street boasting numerous eight bedroom student digs it attracts a certain type of party animal. If you live here in second year, you’re likely to have lived along Ricky Road or in Castle Leazes in First Year. Every weeknight hears the screams of wild house parties and it’s rumoured that there’s only one permanent resident living on the entire street. Poor them. Not.

Students living along Manor House will defend their relative remoteness from the centre of Jesmond by stating that Francesca’s and R&K’s off-license is all you need in life.

Local Bars – 1/10

Proximity to Metro – 2/10

House Parties – 9/10

Student/Resident Ratio: 10:10

Queen’s Terrace

Known locally as “Coronation St” due to its typically northern street layout, Queen’s Terrace was the scene of Jesmond’s most heartbreaking crime in 2014, when thieves nicked a sofa from the front garden of a student house. The sofa was outside as an “alfresco pulling magnet” for the girls living inside. We think this sums up Queen’s Terrace residents perfectly.

Manor House and the streets surrounding it have a bit of a rivalry going on, usually reflected in the form of house parties.

Local Bars: 4/10

Proximity to Metro: 6/10

House Parties: 8/10

Student/Resident Ratio: 8.5/10

Queen’s Terrace: alfresco sofas and balcony boys

Gowan Terrace

Kinky Street. Gowan Terrace made national headlines last year when it hosted the legendary S&M/M&S party. Even the BBC reported the phenomenal event, which featured a bouncy castle, tuck shop, ball pit; and a sex den. When bewildered police arrived to shut the debauchery down at 4am, one officer had reportedly said through his walkie-talkie “mate, they have a bouncy castle up here, come and have a look!”

Local bars: 4/10

Proximity to Metro: 6/10

House Parties: 8/10

Student/Resident Ratio: 7:10

Brentwood Avenue

It may well be perceived by many as the wrong side of the Metro tracks, but according to Josh Chambers (Urban Planning, Second Year), it’s “the Chelsea of the Toon”. Flat white coffees in the sunshine are a far cry from Castle Leazes, where he lived last year. The area around Brentwood Avenue, including Ashleigh Grove and Lavender Gardens, is generally seen as late-applier’s territory. But Second-year Urban Planner Elliot Lewis, of Ashleigh Grove, defended the area stating “it’s convenient for the Metro and close to Arlo’s and Fro-Yo… I mean, who can possibly live without frozen yoghurt for more than a week?!”

Local Bars: 8/10

Proximity to Metro: 10/10

House Parties: 7/10

Student/Resident ratio: 8:10

Sunbury Avenue

For third years who don’t quite want to retire to Gosforth just yet, there’s always the streets between Osborne Road and West Jesmond Metro. With a busier timetable than Second Years, and a life more focussed around that all-important dissertation than getting a half-price drink in Spy Bar, proximity to the Metro is vital. According to Josh Corcoran, a third year Classics student, the area is mainly occupied by “a lot of sports people and the occasional wastemen”. 48 Sunbury Avenue was also the scene of Newcastle’s most phantom party on Friday night – when YikYak exploded with rumours of an epic gathering, only to be squandered by the realisation that there was, in fact, no party – just a group of confused housemates sitting around watching TV.

Local bars: 6/10

Proximity to Metro: 9/10

House parties: 8/10

Student/Resident ratio: 8/10

Larkspur Terrace

Don’t let this leafy, suburban-looking street fool you. Will Thompson, third year marketing, claims it’s “mainly full of southern rich kids – but they tend to put on the best parties”. Last year, to celebrate a housemate’s birthday, they decided to blast fireworks out of their back garden at 3am, forcing the police to come round and shut it all down. This is the perfect street to play “spot the student house” on; as residents tend to own perfectly-pruned front gardens, whereas student front gardens usually feature an assortment of shopping trolleys and traffic cones. Larkspur Terrace is also, weirdly, home to what seems like hundreds of cats, who’s piercing eyes judge you while on your on your walk of shame.

Local bars: 10/10

Proximity to Metro: 8/10

House parties: 7/10

Student/Resident ratio: 5/10