Fiona Nelson-van Loon opened Ruby Tuesday on Narrowgate in 2017 with a single rail of hand-picked womenswear. Nine years on, the shop carries Palava and Sugarhill print dresses, Eribe and Glencroft knitwear from the Scottish and Yorkshire mills, the Jellycat corner that visitors come for by name, design-led home pieces, and gifting curated piece by piece. Dogs welcome inside. Open seven days.
Printed dresses from Palava London (the characterful prints, hand-illustrated). Sugarhill Brighton tea-dresses. Powellcraft for the children. Peggy for the buttoned cotton nightwear. Each season every hanger is hand-picked by Fiona; nothing arrives by algorithm or by chain-network mandate.
Eribe Knitwear from Galashiels (Scottish fair-isle, ribbed yokes, the Alpine sweater) and Glencroft from the Yorkshire Dales. 100% natural wool from UK spinners, no plastic-blended yarns. Sized small through XL, layered through autumn into deep winter when the castle wind sits at the bottom of Narrowgate.
Alnwick's Jellycat stockist. A dedicated corner inside the bigger Narrowgate unit, carrying the full Amuseables (the food-faces line), the Bashful classics, Horticus, and the seasonal Christmas collection. Reviewers come for it by name. We ship Jellycat anywhere in the UK and gift-wrap free of charge.
Gingko Design clocks and Bluetooth speakers, the Super Mini Alice mushroom lamp (the rechargeable one with the silicone cap), candle holders for the long Northumberland evenings, kitchen and dining pieces. Designer-led, independent-made, sized for a real house rather than a showroom.
The Jellycat corner started as a single shelf in 2019. By the time Ruby Tuesday moved up to the bigger Narrowgate unit at number 16, the corner had grown enough to need its own dedicated space. Today it carries the full Amuseables (the food-faces line), the Bashful classics, Horticus, the seasonal Christmas collection, and the occasional limited-run piece you will not find at the chain stores.
Castle visitors come down Narrowgate, see the corner through the window, and walk in for a Bashful Bunny. We ship Jellycat anywhere in the UK and gift-wrap it free of charge.
Fiona Nelson-van Loon opened Ruby Tuesday in 2017 with a single rail of hand-picked womenswear in the original Narrowgate premises at number 8. For seven years she built the buy piece by piece, weeding out anything that did not feel like the shop. By 2024 the curated ranges (clothing, knitwear, Jellycat, lighting, gifting) each needed proper room of their own.
That is when Ruby Tuesday moved into the bigger former Seasons of Alnwick unit at 16 Narrowgate. The Jellycat corner finally got its own dedicated space; the Eribe and Glencroft knitwear hung on a proper wool wall; the design-led home pieces could breathe.
The name was chosen, as the About page puts it, for its warm welcoming vibe. The buying philosophy is on the wall: we buy what we love, we buy good quality, we work with brands that respect small businesses. Nine years of customer trust, built one curated rail at a time.
Alnwick lifestyle shop Ruby Tuesday moves to bigger premises. Northumberland Gazette · on the move into the former Seasons of Alnwick unit at 16 Narrowgate
Most independent shops in market towns end up reselling whatever the trade-show rep pushes that season. Ruby Tuesday does not. The buying is editorial, the editing is honest, and the trade-offs are made in favour of the customer who walks in with thirty quid to spend on the right gift.
If a piece sat on the rail too long, it does not get reordered. Brands that lift the shop stay; brands that drift get cut. Fiona is the buyer; the line of sight from the counter to the trade show is one person long.
It is an unusual stocking pattern. The Eribe Alpine sweater for the grandmother, the Bashful Bunny for the grandchild, the Powellcraft dress for the in-between birthday, all in a single visit. Most shops force two stops; Ruby Tuesday is built for one.
Every in-store purchase and every online order is gift-wrapped free of charge, in the Ruby Tuesday tissue, with a hand-written tag if you ask for one. The wrap is part of the price; the shop is built around the present rather than the till.
Phone the counter on 01665 603717 during opening hours, or email and we will come back to you the same day. If you are after a specific Jellycat or knitwear size, leave the SKU or the size and we will check the stock room.
For larger gift orders (a wedding, a corporate hamper, a baby shower run), tell us a budget and a deadline and we will put a curated selection together for sign-off.
Hours condense around Christmas; the Jellycat seasonal collection drives the December peak. Dogs welcome inside on a lead.
Ruby Tuesday
16 Narrowgate
Alnwick, Northumberland
NE66 1JG
Narrowgate is pedestrianised. Free public parking at Greenwell Lane (5 minutes' walk) and Bondgate Without (8 minutes). Alnwick Castle and Alnwick Garden are both within 4 minutes' walk down the cobbles.
Yes. Ruby Tuesday is an Alnwick stockist with a dedicated corner inside the shop. Full Amuseables (the food-faces line), Bashful classics (Beige, Cream, Silver, Truffle), Horticus, Fluffy Chicken and the seasonal Christmas collection. If we have not got the one you want, phone the counter on 01665 603717 and we will order it in or post it from the next delivery.
No. The mocks in the proposal show what the rebuilt site will look like, and you sign off on the design before any production code is written. If you have brand assets, I will respect them. If you do not, you will get a coherent visual language out of the project and own it afterwards. We can also work together to get the vibe you want into the website, and I will make sure it is SEO optimised.
Free gift wrap on every in-store and online order. Royal Mail tracked across the UK, typically next-working-day for orders placed before 14:00. International posting on request for the Jellycat and clothing ranges. If you are buying for a wedding, a christening or a birthday, leave a note at the counter or in the online order and we will time the delivery to land the day before.
Yes. Pick "Collect from 16 Narrowgate" at the Shopify checkout, pay online, and we will set the parcel aside for you behind the counter. We will text you when it is ready. Useful if you are coming up to the castle for the day and would rather not carry a Jellycat box around the gardens.
Yes. Dogs welcome inside on a lead. We keep a small water bowl by the door for the warm weeks and a tin of biscuits behind the counter. The Narrowgate stretch is pedestrianised so the lead-on walk down from the castle is calm.