It's enough to make a Hoxton fin crawl away and die of mortification: Gateshead has beaten London in a competition to find the hippest street in Britain.

South Shore Road – home to the Lord Foster-designed Sage music centre and the Baltic contemporary arts building – has won the title in a contest run by Google to name the best streets in Britain. The road, which overlooks the "Blinking Eye" millennium bridge and has a view across the water to Newcastle, inspired a recent travel guide to urge visitors to "think Budapest".

London may shrug off not winning the "most romantic street" category, which went to Copse Hill Road in Lower Slaughter, a corner of the Cotswolds equally famous for quaint villages and appalling traffic jams involving tourist buses. It will, however, have pained the capital's retailers that it did not even make the shortlist for "best shopping street", won by Alnwick's Bondgate Within in Northumberland, with Kingston's Market Place in Surrey a surprising second.

London could only manage third place on the hip list with Whitecross Street, Islington – once renowned for its poverty and squalor, now for its smart foodie street market. Call Lane, in Leeds, came second, while Seel Street, Liverpool, and Henry Street, Belfast, ran fourth and fifth.

The victory for Gateshead is a tribute to the extraordinary reinvention of Tyneside, led by the local authorities, as a culture, arts and clubbing destination after the collapse of its traditional shipbuilding and heavy industry, with new galleries, cafes, and boutique hotels on every street corner. It was the launch venue last month for Gateshead's bid to win city status, to be awarded to a contender next year to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

Mick Henry, leader of Gateshead council, said local people would treasure the hippest street award. "It says everything that needs to be said about Gateshead – modern, hip, stylish and ambitious."

Claire Byers, deputy director of Baltic, said the skyline of South Shore Road was known the world over. "It not only offers fantastic views of the River Tyne, but boasts some of the best contemporary art in the world, superb live music, festivals, events and delicious places to eat, drink and meet friends. No wonder it has come to symbolize Newcastle Gateshead as one of the best locations in the country."

Bondgate Within in Alnwick, with a mixture of independents and high street names in a picturesque street entered by an archway through a 15th century tower, took the best shopping title. Gordon Castle, local county councillor, said it was a deserved follow up to Alnwick's recent triumph when Country Life magazine judged it the best place to live in Britain.

Google launched the best streets competition last year – when The Shambles in York won the title of the most picturesque street in the country – in the wake of considerable controversy over its Street View project to put searchable images of every street in Britain online.

This year the long lists were drawn up by invited panelists including tourism experts, guide authors and journalists, and the public was then invited to vote online.

The finalists:

Hippest:

South Shore Road, Gateshead

Call Lane, Leeds

Whitecross Street, London

Seel Street, Liverpool

Henry Street, Belfast

Best shopping:

Bondgate Within, Alnwick

Market Place, Kingston

Low Pavement, Nottingham

Lisburn Road, Belfast

The Promenade, Cheltenham

Most Romantic:

Copse Hill Road, Lower Slaughter

Front Street , Bamburgh

The Royal Mile, Edinburgh

Mwnt, Y Ferwig

The A591, Grasmere, Lake District