Currently beer festival-ing in Gateshead. Plenty of fish-free beer, surprisingly. And theMusic’s great too.
Category Archives: Pubs
In town today
In town today:
– a car on fire (well, newly extinguished)
– two arrests (possibly a driving offence and, separately, a shoplifter)
– embarrassing bodies filming
– a photo shoot near the castle
– an ex-wife
And I’m sure I’ve forgotten something (possibly an ex or two).
Central Bar
I do love the Central Bar.
But.
The service was incredibly bad this afternoon. My second in command hadn’t been served after 15 minutes, even though the bar wasn’t busy. The staff were a bit weird when my second in command commented on the service. As an observer, I noticed weird bar discrimination, ie blokes were getting served first.
So we left.
Nuts
The chilli nuts in the Bridge Hotel are damn hot today. The Erdinger’s nice too.
Beery goodness
This very afternoon, we walked to town. While on our walk we had delicious chips from Visocchi’s. And then visited the beer festival, where we had beer and, mostly, cider. A picture or two.
We then went to Dat Bar; our first visit. I have to recommend the place; as we walked in, they were playing ‘the white stripes’, then other cool stuff. Better still, they have an impressive beer menu, including Schneider Weiss on draught.
And the toilets are pretty cool too.
The Borough of Peter
Some pictures from today. I particularly like the tree picture. And the band in Charters, but I’ve not taken a picture of them.
A window
Some pictures from a bar stool this evening.
Carlisle
Had almost an hour to kill between trains in Carlisle, so went for a bit of a wander (and a pint in the Howard Arms). I know I shouldn’t have been surprised, but the gorgeous old Victorian market hall is now a Wilkinson’s store, on the ground floor. A new upper floor accommodates TK Maxx. It’s good that a stunning old building is still in use. And I mean that. But, I have fond memories of that market (from the 80s); there was a great little wholefoods shop, at a time when such things were scarce in the North.
Anyway, the Howard Arms does a respectable pint of Stella (the real ale all contained fish).
Popolo
I’ve just learned, from Twitter, that Popolo in town has closed. Many people seem to be lamenting the loss of a venue for cocktails.
I’ve spent some very nice afternoons there over the years, in the pink light through the windows. With overpriced, but delicious Erdinger.
At the opposite end of the beer price scale, I spent an enjoyable couple of hours yesterday evening in the Olde Blue Bell, in Preston. With cheap, but delicious Sam Smith’s extra stout (and bitter).
A couple of pictures from last night too. The second was taken in the somewhat unusual hotel car park.
Hair decoration
I made the best ever hair decoration. This very evening. In the Central.
It’s amazing what you can make from a crisp packet.
Seabrooks, that is. None of that Walkers’ shit.