Friday Fun at Summer Storeys

August 21, 2016 by Rachel Kershaw in Festivals and Events 3

‘Who knew that standing in a rainy car park on a Friday night would be so much fun?’ That’s what my mate Sharon said to me as we shared a brolly at the launch of Summer Storeys and she definitely had a point!

Not a bad view from Summer Storeys!

A couple of months ago I had the idea to organise a night out for all my colleagues past and present, I’ve worked at Metro Radio for over a decade and lots of the people I’ve loved working with still have careers in media so I created a Facebook event and made it an open invitation to everyone in the industry. Before I knew it, around 40 people had agreed to attend a night out in Newcastle on the 19th August so I desperately needed to find a venue for our reunion.

When I heard about Summer Storeys it ticked all the boxes… this rooftop drinking and dining pop-up experience promised ‘A Concrete Jungle Escapism’ with street food, live music and cocktails. Plus none of my guests had a pre-conceived idea of what it would be like because it was brand new (which meant no one could moan they didn’t like it there)!

So it was agreed that we would meet on the roof of the car park on Barrack Road for some Friday night fun! With the recent warm weather we’ve been enjoying in the North East I pictured a sunny, festival-like event with people sipping cocktails in deck chairs and tucking in to street food at picnic tables. I even planned to show off my holiday tan by wearing a short dress. Oh how optimistic (read naive!) I was…

As the day for our big night out in the Toon approached, the weather changed dramatically, causing the organisers of Summer Storeys to make the last minute decision to invest in a huge tent to keep all us party-goers dry.

Part of me was tempted to ditch the idea and change the meeting point to a place with walls and heating but I really wanted to support a new event for the city and help make it a success so we stuck to the plan and I’m so glad we did!

Ever the optimist I even wore my short dress and sandals! (Excuse the blurry pic, but as you can see we were in a bit of a rush!)

My mate Laura braving the rain for a pint of Wylam ale!

I often find that the best memories are made when things don’t necessarily go to plan, don’t you? Our Fat Hippo burgers may have been a little damp, the toilet roll may have stuck to our shoes in the portaloos and the curls in our hair may have dropped within seconds of arriving but I think it’s safe to say that we all had a great night huddled together in the festival tent at Summer Storeys. We even treated our mate Luke, who was celebrating his 21st, to a drunken rendition of Happy Birthday!

Me and the birthday boy!

The array of food stalls included delicious pizza slices from Mannys

Not sure who the DJ was but the music was soulful and lifted everyone’s spirits!

I’ve just found out that Summer Storeys is returning to the Toon for the bank holiday weekend. So I think I’m going to have to re-name my last blog post to TWELVE Cool Events in the North East! The weather might be a bit unpredictable but I promise you’ll have a great time if you head to this event, head on over to the Summer Storeys Facebook page to find out more.