Newbiggin became a popular beach resort by 1828 and remains a tourist attraction with landmarks such as the Couple sculpture by Sean Henry, and the 13th-century parish church.

The town holds an annual music festival that raises money for charity and is also home to several religious sites representing various denominations.

Henry III granted a charter for a weekly market on Monday and an annual fair; in 1337, as a borough of note, it sent bailiffs to a council on matters of state, convened by the Bishop of Lincoln, the Earl of Warwick and other noblemen.

[6] In 1805, two boats, with nineteen men, were lost in a storm off Newbiggin, after which £1,700 was donated by fundraising in the Newcastle region to relieve the bereaved families.

The bay gave good anchorage for small vessels, but even then was very little used, except for the numerous boats belonging to the fishery, in which most of the inhabitants were employed.

Pilchard, herring, cod, haddock, whiting, ling, halibut, turbot, sole, and skate were caught by the fishermen of Newbiggin and sold primarily at Newcastle.

Newbiggin-by-the-Sea is in the UK Parliamentary constituency of Blyth and Ashington which, since the 2024 general election, has been represented at Westminster by Ian Lavery MP.

By the Victorian era, Newbiggin was Northumberland's favourite seaside town, attracting hundreds of visitors every day in the summer months.

[10] The lifeboat station was opened in 1851 following a fishing disaster in which ten Newbiggin fishermen lost their lives in stormy seas.

Mary Heynes, who in her childhood was once head girl at the former West Junior School in Newbiggin, recalls that in the 1960s, "The Salvation Army would be on the Quay wall every Sunday doing a service and the band would play.

[28][29] The Apostolic Church, whose beginnings can be traced to South Wales during the 1904-05 Welsh Revival, arrived in Newbiggin in 1936, initially hiring a room above the Co-operative store which still stands on Cleveland Terrace.

Subsequently, the Apostolic Church acquired a building at 15–17 Gibson Street,[30] but this closed to worship in 2010 and now houses the Newbiggin Boxing Club gym.

In its final years, the fair was set out in the following format: starting at the beginning of the shopping area of Front Street, up to the Cresswell Arms public house flowing into Church Point car park and continuing along the seafront promenade.

Appearances were made by Slade, Leo Sayer and TV show Gladiators star Michael Van Wijk.