People are pouring beans on Newcastle students’ doorsteps and uploading the footage to TikTok

It simply wouldn’t be the start of a new semester without something to grab our attention on our social media feeds, for good or for bad. This year happens to be perhaps the strangest I’ve ever seen in my time at Newcastle, the Bean Bandits are taking over Newcastle TikTok.

I am literally just as confused as you are, but if you haven’t seen them on your feed, students on Tiktok are sending in Newcastle-based addresses to an anonymous user on TikTok, who then records themselves pouring a tin of beans on the front doorstep…. We don’t even know either.

Our student-inhabited streets of Bayswater, Shortridge and Helmsley Road have all fallen victim to this bizarre method of revenge. But why are we literally going crazy over this? Has our humour over lockdown really peaked at a Gossip Girl style profile throwing beans over our porches?

@beanbanditsncl#beans #heinz #uni #newcastle #jesmond♬ original sound – beanbanditsncl

The concept is simple. Send in your mate’s student address then a random guy on TikTok will turn up at their door and record themselves pouring a full tin of beans over their front porch for them to find the next morning.

With the page only springing into action less than a week ago, it has marked up an impressive 19.4k following already, however, it appears Newcastle is not the first to interact such “bean bandits” with police across Yorkshire warning shops against allowing young people to buy large quantities of beans in case they are behind the “beaning” trend. While this has literally only come to my attention in the last few days, it’s clear the trend has stretched far and wide.

@beanbanditsnclReply to @collycrawford KEEP COMMENTING PLACES TO BEAN. 23 ST GEORGES TERRACE #beaned #heinz #jesmond #newcastle #uni♬ original sound – beanbanditsncl

We spoke to some victims of “beaning” in Newcastle, with one guy telling us he walked home hammered from the pub to find his doorstep covered in beans, and another with the entrance to their already dingy student house covered in chicken soup, clearly we have more than just bean bandits on our hands, comical.

@beanbanditsnclReply to @treay1302 KEEP COMMENTING AND ILL KEEP BEANING #beans #jesmond #heinz #westjesmond #newcastle #uni #fyp♬ original sound – beanbanditsncl

With the page being rather inactive on TikTok in the last few days, we wonder whether the beaning trend is something that comes and goes with the TikTok times, or whether the “bandits” are planning something bigger and better for us to view at our pleasure. Either way, it was funny while it lasted, eh?

Do you know anything about the Newcastle Bean Bandits, we want to hear from YOU!! If your house has fallen victim to “beaning” please do get in touch!

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