'We can work anywhere now'

"Why would anyone live in London when they can work here?" asks Rob Sykes, 27, who works for Karol Marketing at its Tyneside HQ - the converted Fighting Cocks pub. "The computer and the mobile telephone have transformed life for small businesses like ours. We can work anywhere now."

His firm, whose clients include Barbour, Nike and O'Neill, won Britain's PR Team of the Year award last year.

"Newcastle is rapidly becoming one of the most impressive cultural centres of Britain," says Sykes. "It has the quality of life without the cost and hassle of living in London."