Newcastle’s The North Pole Luxe Igloos*

 

*AD/INVITE

I was kindly invited to experience a little something new to the fabulous Christmas Market in Newcastle. The North Pole luxe igloos. 

Based on the plinth of Greys Monument, overlooking the market stalls, you’ll be seated in your very own heated, cosy luxury igloo with views down the street and around the city. With hot chocolate, mulled wine or prosecco in hand as you munch on a sweet or savoury grazing board. This is a one off experience to enjoy this festive period.

For as little as 20pp minimum spend, you can choose from a range of alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks, if you want something hot, scan your table number and order from selected local traders or market stalls, collect and bring your food into your dome. Domes are for all ages so perfect for family gatherings, small parties or an excuse to relax from Christmas shopping.

This was the experience my group was expecting but we left feeling a bit disappointed by it all. Luxury igloos is by far what we had seen. I will start off with some of the positives.

The igloos themselves are very pretty, perfect spot for getting photo opportunities. They were decorated with fairy lights, soft fur blankets and Christmas decor. Giving it that cosy feeling. Christmas music blared from the speakers and made it that extra festive. 

Available to book for 1 -12 people (the huts are small so 12 is a squeeze) costing £200 minimum spend with unlimited drinks (these drinks are up to £200 btw so if it was just two people, you’d have up to £100 each to spend on booze and snacks. No matter how many are with you, you have £200 min spend) additional drinks can be purchased as packages or from their scan and bring table service. (Which wasn’t even an option for us)

They did allow for walk-ins but since it was so busy with only 6 igloos which were always full, I recommend booking in advance only.

Access for large pushchairs and wheelchairs is limited but they do have domes available at Moosenwirt Lodge. I didn’t even see a way for chairs to get in at all at The North Pole but please ask before booking. 

Now let’s get into what I experienced.

The North Pole is new edition to the market but the igloos have been seen further down the market at the Moosenwirt bar. I felt as there was very mixed communication and service was slow and unorganised. 

We were first told to go to which ever igloo at the time was empty, despite booking at 7pm and the igloos having little boards to tell others if it had been booked. Once getting inside, we waited 10 minutes to be asked if anyone took our drinks order. No one had come but eventually a lovely bloke came and took our orders. We ordered drinks from the little drink menu on the table, which is the exact same drinks from hot chocolates at some of the stalls in the market (mainly cause it’s all owned by one company) originally a friend and I had ordered a boozy hot chocolatetini to which we waited a further 10 minutes for us to be told that they didn’t have three of the hot chocolate cocktails on the menu and needed to order something else. The group had ordered 2 boozy hot chocolates, 2 funky flavoured hot chocolates, beer and a soft drink. 2 of these drinks arrived within 30 mins, the rest of us were waiting up to 45 mins, baring in mind that we were only given 80 mins in the igloo to drink and scran.

During the waiting time, we were constantly told the hot water was still heating up. If we had paid for this experience, I would have been disappointed to wait so long for a hot chocolate. When the drinks did arrive after the grazing board, they were lukewarm. Next up was the grazing board. We waited quite a while for this too. We had been told a cheese board would be heading to us soon and when we did eventually get it, there was no cheese to be found. When questioning the staff, we were told some had cheese, some didn’t. Another person we spoke to said we had been given the vegan/vegetarian board. They did apologise on their behalf and changed the vegan board into the cheese board that we were told would be heading our way. Both grazing boards were just soft crackers and some dips inside a cardboard box. Not very luxury. I was expecting a wooden slab with cheeses and meats, we didn’t even get any spoons or knives to cut the cheese and scoop various dips. Again, if I was paying over £200 for drinks and nibbles, it wouldn’t feel very luxurious. I realised after writing this, the North Pole was using the hot chocolate stand that was behind the area to serve us drinks, which was also serving to the public. The mystery of why our beer and soft drinks came much quicker has been solved but I think the venue should not be relying on a hot drink stand that is already rushed off their feet and should have sourced a separate stand for this purpose only. If you are only buying alcohol then it would have been no problem but considering half of the drink menu were hot chocolates and festive drinks, I would think that they could time management better.

During our grazing, another group in the igloo beside us were banging and waving around. We thought it was just because they had young children but on further inspection they were locked inside their igloo and could not get out. Non of the staff had noticed, so we came to the rescue. We politely asked them how their experience was so far as they had paid for their igloo and it was about the same for them as it was for us. Soggy crackers and lukewarm hot chocolates.

Whilst we picked at our grazing board, the drinks we had ordered, that I mentioned earlier finally came. I also noticed that two of the lightbulbs had been turned off or were popped above us, so only one lit up and the heater kept heating up some of our heads a little too much, when we turned this off, it instantly became cold so we had to keep it on. 

Although it was their first time as The North Pole, I felt as if no one knew what was happening, organisation got the best of them, considering the hot water wasn’t heated and we were not asked the choice of a sweet board or a savoury meat/vegan board beforehand like stated on the website. Despite this, the staff did everything to rectify any mistakes and I can’t fault a hiccup but considering we were a booked slot, they should have prepared more for a busy setup throughout the day and night and kept the grazing boards fresher. I may have been there for a PR invite but if I was a paying customer and paid over £200, I would have been quite upset that most of my allotted time was waiting for my drinks. What shocked me is the group beside us who paid and got the same experience as my group. I also didn’t see any where to scan to order food elsewhere despite this also being mentioned on the website.

I do hope going forward in future markets, that they have better organisation. My experience would have been elevated with just some more changes, but this did not feel luxury to us as stated on their website.

Despite this I still had a lovely time with friends and the atmosphere still felt warm, festive and fun!

It’s a beautiful addition to the Newcastle Christmas Market and I hope nothing but the best for future events!

If you’d like to check out the website and book to experience for yourselves, as I’m sure by now they would have straighten out any first day hiccups then head over to Moosenwirt’s website. Moosenwirt also have tons of other areas to celebrate some festive cheer! I’m sure you will find something that peaks your interest. 

For now, I wish you all warm wishes and festive cheer,