A change of tack will see most of the shops engaged in twilight trading, known as Friday After Five.

Newcastle Art Gallery, along with fashion and music store Abicus, will kick off the twilight season this Friday, October 11.

The gallery is showing the touring exhibition After Five: Fashion from the Darnell Collection.

Abicus will celebrate its 13th birthday the same night, with an exhibition of collage works by Dead Galaxy, eats by Paper Bagel, brews from Stone & Wood, wines by Tamburlaine and a DJ set by Alex Nevin.

Punters travelling to Darby Street can also check out the renovations to the laneway (next to Goldbergs), which has been pimped out by volunteers from the Office of Student Architects.

They have installed new lighting, seating and graffiti wall art.

Kevin Coffey, from Jean Bas, said the shop owners were keen to put on more events in the lead up to Christmas.

He said a lot of the trading hours of Darby Street's shops did not correlate with the opening hours of the cafes and restaurants.

He said regular events would encourage stores to open longer.

You can keep up with all of the Friday After Five events over the coming weeks by liking the Darby Street Facebook page.

■ Newcastle Art Gallery will extend the opening hours of the exhibition After Five until 8pm this Friday.