Hi, I'm currently in 6th form and have applied to Newcastle for Biomedical Science and it's probably my favourite of the 5 I applied to.
Concerning Bristol vs Newcastle, I was taking a look at this website to compare my unis and it puts Newcastle as 5* (top) for biological sciences and Bristol as 5, but this is concerning their research, which you may not find relevant to your decision, but I found important as it shows that if you were to go onto doing a phd or a masters, you could contribute to this...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/education/rae/2001/subjects/rating/14.stmI have the same situation with distance, Newcastle is 5 hours from where I live, so it will be very hard to come home, but it really depends on how important closeness to your family is to you when making your decision..you could always Skype them?
Newcastle has the best student life in the country, even if you're not a party person, there is a lot to do and there are lots of shops everywhere right outside the uni! I loved it when I visited!
Also, I know someone who studies biomedicine at Newcastle at the moment and she was able to organise some payed summer lab work as a lab assistant at the uni in her hometown (UEA). So Newcastle has a lot of links. You could, of course stay at Newcastle to do lab work in the summer, but I'm sure you'd like to see your family at that time.
Sorry I can't help you with any of the Bristol stuff or getting a job in Newcastle stuff :P