EVEN BEFORE I ENTER QT Hotel Newcastle – the just-minted transformation of a retail icon in the heart of the city – I’m greeted with fun and high energy. Delightfully clad in riotous colour, the ‘Director of Chaos’ offers a smiling welcome and a precursor of what’s to come.
I’m entering territory that’s deeply familiar, a spot once occupied by Scott’s Ltd, a department store from the 1890s, then