National Lottery Open Week – Special Building and Collections Tour

This National Lottery Open Week, The Common Room invites National Lottery Players on a special tour of our building, including an insight into our collections as well as a peek into the Arbitration Room – a historic space usually not available for public view. The tours are led by our friends at Newcastle City Guides.

The Common Room is a venue and charity located in Newcastle upon Tyne. Built between 1869-1872, our building has been home to the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers ever since. Some of the region’s greatest pioneering minds like Robert Stephenson, Lord Armstrong and Nicholas Wood met here to invent, innovate and campaign for improved safety in the mines, to protect miners, and advise mine owners.

Inside the building lies centuries of history relating to the Great Northern Coalfield, full of tales of engineering excellence and innovation. Our archive and collections span centuries of engineering, geological, mining and wider scientific history, starting from the Industrial Revolution.

Tour dates

Tuesday 22nd and Wednesday 23rd March 2022

Tour times

10:00am – 11:30am

12:00pm – 1:30pm

1:30pm – 3:00pm

We have a number of additional offers for National Lottery Open Week, including 25% off for National Lottery Players in our cafe/bar 5|Quarter. To see all of our offers, click here.

Important booking information

You must be able to produce proof of purchase of a National Lottery game upon attendance – this can be a hard copy ticket or digital. The date of draw / purchase is not relevant.

The ticket or scratchcard holder, plus one accompanying adult and any accompanying children under 16 may attend these tours.

*Everyone in your party must have their own tour ticket, booked in advance of the tour.*

Tickets are free, but if you would like to make a small donation to support the charitable work of The Common Room, it would be hugely appreciated.

If you can no longer attend your slot, we kindly ask that you cancel your ticket so someone else may take your place, as demand is very high. Donations can be refunded upon request if you need to cancel your ticket.

Additional information

Children must be supervised at all times by a responsible adult.

Our building is fully accessible – if you have any queries about accessibility, please contact lucy.stockdale@thecommonroom.org.uk

The Common Room is taking a number of precautions to mitigate the risk to the public regarding COVID-19. Attendees will be encouraged to wear a face covering (unless they have a medical exemption) where possible. We would appreciate it if attendees could complete a lateral flow test prior to attending, and we kindly ask you do not attend if you have had a positive test result for COVID-19, or are experiencing symptoms. For further information on our COVID-19 protocol please email lucy.stockdale@thecommonroom.org.uk

About National Lottery Open Week

Since 1994, more than £45 billion has been raised for good causes. Due to this support, good cause projects in the arts, community, film heritage and sport are able to make a huge difference in their local communities.

For making their work possible, National Lottery funded projects across the UK want to say #ThanksToYou to the National Lottery players by offering free entry or other special offers this National Lottery Open Week!

Between 19-27 March 2022, anyone who presents a National Lottery ticket or scratchcard (digital or physical) will be able to access these special offers.