Dakota Newcastle

Dakota Hotels opened its sixth UK property, and first in North East England, on Newcastle's Quayside on 29 March 2025: a 118-room conversion of a 1990s office block at St Ann's Wharf into the group's familiar dark-toned, brasserie-led format. The £36.5 million project gives Dakota a riverside base on the Tyne, built around a ground-floor steakhouse and a cigar terrace the operator describes as a first for the city.

The place

Dakota Newcastle occupies St Ann's Wharf, a former 1990s office building on the Quayside east of the city's bridges, in the stretch of riverside walkway that runs opposite the Baltic Centre and Sage Gateshead on the far bank of the Tyne. The address sits roughly a 20-minute walk from Newcastle Central Station, trading immediate city-centre convenience for river frontage and proximity to the Quayside's restaurants, markets and evening crowd. The original building, designed by CZWG Architects, formed part of the East Quayside regeneration carried out by the Tyne and Wear Urban Development Corporation in the late 1990s, giving Dakota an existing piece of riverside architecture to rework rather than a ground-up site.

The concept

Dakota Newcastle is the sixth hotel from Dakota Hotels, the group founded in 2006 by Glasgow hotelier Ken McCulloch, whose earlier ventures include One Devonshire Gardens and the original Malmaison brand. It joins existing properties in Glasgow, South Queensferry (Edinburgh), Eurocentral (Motherwell), Leeds and Manchester, and marks the brand's first entry into North East England. Like several other Dakota hotels, it is a conversion rather than a new build: KPP Architects led the reworking of the former office block, with GMI Construction Group as principal contractor and a roughly 6,300 sq ft ground-floor extension added to house a new entrance lobby, while much of the original 1990s structure was retained. Interiors follow the dark-wood, low-lit register that has become Dakota's signature across its UK properties, styled by Amanda Rosa Interiors, McCulloch's longtime design collaborator. The 118 rooms and suites span seven categories, from 62 Classic Doubles up to the Grand Deluxe, a two-bedroom suite with its own steam shower, roll-top bath and dressing room; 33 of the suites face the river. The positioning sits closer to a design-led business-and-leisure hotel than a full luxury resort, aimed at guests who might otherwise book a Malmaison or Hotel du Vin but want a newer, more contemporary alternative in a city where the upper hotel tier has traditionally been thin.

Dining & wellness

Food and drink center on The Grill, a ground-floor steakhouse serving 35-day aged, flash-grilled cuts alongside Dakota's broader brasserie menu, with an adjoining bar. A dedicated Cigar Terrace — heated, planted and built around a humidor stocked with Hunter & Frankau and Davidoff cigars — is pitched by the group as a first for Newcastle's hotel scene. A Champagne Room and a Library Bar are also available for private events, continuing Dakota's pattern of built-in dining and event space. There is no indication of a spa, gym or pool at the property.