It鈥檚 standing room only on the dance floor, crowds of people are lining the bar and there鈥檚 a queue of people still outside Hoochie Coochie waiting to get in outside.
Nothing surprising about that, you might say, but for the fact that it is only 3.30pm on a Saturday.
Welcome to daytime clubbing 鈥 a new phenomenon in the growing, lucrative world of the leisure economy.
In the 1980s and 鈥90s, socialising with friends on a night out involved just that 鈥 a night out 鈥 with a timetable dictated by the licensing laws of the time. When pubs closed at 11pm the night was over unless you ventured to a nightclub until the early hours.
Since then, relaxed licensing laws which have created an all-day drinking and dining playground for customers, coupled with a dramatically altered leisure landscape, have well and truly ripped up the rule book.
Now, in a fast-growing and lucrative daytime economy where much of the big spending comes from the over 35s, the weekend鈥檚 leisure industry is getting a big boost from the 鈥渟tart early, finish early鈥 crowd, with city centre bars and restaurants teeming with people from early in the day, often bringing in higher revenues than the traditional evening economy.
Warren Thompson, owner of Newcastle live music venue Hoochie Coochie, says operators have had little alternative but to keep up with trends by creating more daytime economy options.
The Pilgrim Street site already runs hugely popular Sunday events, and last month Mr Thompson launched Heaven in the Afternoon, weekly Saturday clubbing events from 3pm to 8pm.
鈥淚t鈥檚 happened out of necessity more than anything 鈥 pubs and clubs have had to adapt," he said.
鈥淚鈥檝e been trading out of Hoochie Coochie for eight years and what鈥檚 happening more and more is that the weekend is getting centred just around Saturday.聽Friday nights at 10pm, wandering around the town you鈥檒l see it鈥檚 often dead and the only people kicking about are stag and hen parties.
鈥淲e initially opened during the day on Saturdays just as a bar, but people were coming through the doors and looking for something to happen because we鈥檙e known for our live music and soul session nights 鈥 so I decided to make us the only venue in town where you can come in during the day on a Saturday and jump about.
鈥淎nd from the first weekend we鈥檝e been mobbed every week. It鈥檚 amazing 鈥 the afternoons are busier than the late Saturday nights.
鈥淲e鈥檝e been targeting the ladies who lunch, but have actually reached out to a new audience 鈥 the women who have children who can now come and spend some time with their friends without needing to get a babysitter because their partners or other family members are home, and they can be home for 8pm.鈥
Mr Thompson says that leisure experiences like Stack Newcastle and Gateshead鈥檚 By The River Brew Co are drawing bigger crowds into the city 鈥 but that places like Hoochie Coochie, which are off the beaten track, have to work hard to attract those crowds.
鈥淵ou have to have a USP. We are in the wrong part of town so people have to plan to come here.
鈥淏ut there鈥檚 no doubt that people who live in and around Newcastle prefer this daytime economy. They don鈥檛 want to come in on a Saturday night because sometimes it鈥檚 like armageddon! It鈥檚 just nicer during the day.鈥
Ollie Vaulkhard, director at Newcastle leisure and property firm Vaulkhard Group, agrees with that sentiment.
The group owns a number of sites across the North East 鈥 including Bealim House, The Diamond in Ponteland, Blakes Coffee House and the Quilted Camel 鈥 in some cases catering for very different audiences.
While its Barluga bar and restaurant sites in Morpeth, Gosforth and Newcastle are known for their food as much as their wines, drawing in an older crowd, the Mushroom Bar attracts a much younger crowd with its lively atmosphere and music on a weekend.
Mr Vaulkhard said he and his pals have been adding to the daytime leisure economy for several years.
鈥淚 feel like a pioneer on this,鈥 he said. 鈥淎bout four or five years ago, my brother and I started doing this on a Friday afternoon. We鈥檇 go out at 1.30pm, meet our friends and have afternoons in town, and you were home聽by 8pm. You have no hangover on a Saturday, 10 hours kip, not had a kebab, not had to queue for a taxi 鈥 it seems like the most civilised way to go out I鈥檝e ever found!
鈥淚 think it comes off the back of the later licensing that exists today. When pubs used to shut at 11pm, if you didn鈥檛 go to a nightclub but go home you鈥檇 invariably be in your house at 11.45pm.
鈥淣ow people have seen that we鈥檝e got beautiful venues where they can sit, chat, have table service and interact and do all the things that 鈥榞oing out鈥 is but in a pleasant environment, missing all of the challenges, all the noise and all the silliness.聽
鈥淚n the last five years we鈥檝e seen it grow pretty exponentially. You see it at the Barluga, Bealim House and The Diamond, and to a degree Pacific House.
鈥淎nd as an operator it鈥檚 a lovely way of trading. There鈥檚 no doormen 鈥 an expensive addition 鈥 you aren鈥檛 trading at capacity, you don鈥檛 need DJs and you have customers who are generally sober and free spending. 聽
鈥淢illenials want a different experience, a lot of them don鈥檛 drink and look for an experience, like going bowling, when they go out. The afternoon economy are an older customer base, who looks back to the 鈥90s and thought that was a great time, and to a degree are recreating that.鈥
Mr Vaulkhard believes that, given half a chance, operators would rather return to the days of earlier closing licensing laws.
鈥淚f you could get every single publican in the country and ask how they would you feel about bringing those licensing hours back, they would all agree. No one would do it unilaterally, because it鈥檚 an arms race and you鈥檝e got to be open as long as the guy next door. But if we could all put it back, we all would.
鈥淲e close Perdu at 3am, and our first coffee house opens at six in the morning, so we鈥檙e trading 21 hours a day - that鈥檚 tough to run and I don鈥檛 believe it鈥檚 any more profitable.鈥
The rise of the daytime economy has provided something of a boon to Newcastle Stack, the shipping container hub packed with independent shops, bars and restaurants. It first opened last summer to great fanfare, with owners Danieli Holdings having a fair idea of how and when visitors would enjoy its bars, music and food and, between then and the end of March, 800,000 people had visited, and on a typical Saturday 12,000 people will already have been to Stack by 9pm.聽
They thought daytime would be dominated by lower numbers of people wanting to shop and enjoy a spot of lunch 鈥 but Saturday and Sunday afternoons have proved to be the busiest periods 鈥 and biggest money makers for the traders.
As a result, entertainment plans have been changed along the way, with live music often dominating the bill during the day to entertain the crowds.
Operations director Kevin Walker has a wealth of experience in the leisure trade, but even he has been surprised by the emerging trends at Stack.
He said: 鈥淚f we say that the basic timeframe for this type of economy is 3pm to 8pm or 9pm, we see it from 1pm. But when that daytime crowd has gone we then get a hit with the nighttime crowd.
鈥淚 think the daytime economy is the result of the demographic of age, where you get to the point where you don鈥檛 really want to come to town at 9pm on a Saturday night. People are more conscious of how they spend their money now 鈥 they can come in on public transport and go home on public transport without having to wait around for taxis in the early hours of the morning.
鈥淚 do think there will always be a nighttime economy and a space for bars, on the basis of the demographic of age 鈥 the young crowd morph into to the late nights but the over 35s demographic is looking for more of an experience now and want a safer environment. All of this pulls together to create that new grown-up culture of 鈥榞et out early and get back early鈥.
鈥淔rom an operator point of view, the problem we face is trying to adapt our offering to cover that big genre. We鈥檙e mainly talking about over 35 year olds during the day but you do still have that younger element coming in and families, so it鈥檚 difficult to judge our entertainment package.鈥澛
Visitor numbers on a Saturday night are good, said Mr Walker, but represent a marked slowdown on the day.
鈥淲ithout a doubt, it鈥檚 definitely busier. That crowd is also mixed in with shoppers, those winding down after a day around the shops 鈥 that鈥檚 where you see the real eclectic mix of people of Stack.
鈥淧lus I鈥檝e never seen a dwell time like it 鈥 I see people coming in with shopping bags and they鈥檙e still here five hours later, talking to people they didn鈥檛 know when they first came through the door.
鈥淲e鈥檙e just over 10 months old, so we鈥檙e still cutting our teeth, and we鈥檙e still adapting, sometimes having to adapt from week to week.
鈥淯ntil I鈥檝e got that full year under my belt of seeing trading patterns change, whether it be led by a sporting event, or age demographic, it鈥檚 just going to be a suck it and see scenario until then. But so far it鈥檚 been absolutely amazing.鈥
