Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: Newcastle

Friday – Wetherspoon Breakfast, the old Newcastle City Walls and Laing Art Gallery (Part 1)

Quick breakfast at Keel Row, the JD Wetherspoon operated pub located in The Gate Cinema Complex. There were several people who tried and failed to buy alcohol before 10:00, which must be when the licence kicks in, some of whom waited patiently at the end of the bar for the time to tick over. A slightly soulless venue, but the staff seemed positive and engaged.

St. Andrew’s Church, mostly dating from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, although there are some parts of the original twelfth century building still standing.

Some older graves remain around the churchyard, this is a later replacement of the stone placed here in honour of James Murray, “who fought a good fight, kept the faith, and finished his course the 28th June, 1782, aged 50 years”.

The entrance to Chinatown is marked by this rather impressive arch, designed by Shanghai craftsmen in 2004. In case anyone ever gets faced with this at a pub quiz, there are five Chinatowns in the UK, the others being in London, Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester.

Next to the arch is a long section (the longest still standing in the city) of Newcastle’s city wall (known locally as the Town Wall), with this being the Ever Tower which was constructed in the late thirteenth century and named after the family which funded its construction.

This stretch of wall was used by numerous different industries, with the structure mostly being destroyed when it was incorporated into different buildings. The Ever Tower was used by the Company of Paviors, Colliers and Carriagemen as their meeting house in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. I’m not entirely sure why a guild company of pavers, coal traders and carriage drivers joined together, but that’s a different story.

Speed’s map of Newcastle in 1610 shows where the walls were, with the Tyne at the south.

The area is now all open, but until 1933 this site was occupied by Gallowgate Lead Works.

There’s a clue here that there was a shaft here….. It was the lead shot shaft, where molten lead was poured through colanders at the top and it would fall into the water 200 feet below, where it would be collected by a man who was lowered into the water. I’m not entirely sure how enjoyable that would have been as a job.

This is the West Walls section of the Town Wall, located by the Heber Tower, first constructed in the thirteenth century. This one was later leased to the Felt-makers, Curriers, and Armourers Guild, and I can see more of a connection between felt, leather and armour.

The Town Wall is in the background, behind the Everchanging sculpture designed by Eilis O’Connell (1953-) between 2003 and 2004. It takes its name from the reflection of the steel meaning the artwork is always changing and evolving. I’m not sure if it has any other meaning, there’s none mentioned on the artist’s web-site, but I noticed someone else take a photo of it, so clearly people think it has some relevance and interest.

Laing Art Gallery, named after the local wine merchant Alexander Laing who gave a donation to allow the building to be constructed in 1904. There’s no admission charge and the staff member at the entrance was welcoming and gave me an introduction to the gallery and what there was to see, and there was a suitably friendly atmosphere to the whole arrangement. The odd situation with the wall in the background as it’s where the gallery was once connected to the central library.

As usual, I took far too many photos of artworks and I may come back to post more images, but this was one of my favourites given its local connection. This artwork of the construction of the Tyne Bridge, which opened in 1928, was painted by the Director of King’s College School of Art, Edward Dickey (1894-1977).

The upstairs gallery, with some more traditional artworks. Downstairs there was also the “These are Our Treasures” exhibition, which had items of great significance which belong to a range of people in the North East. I’ll try and write more about this, it’s a fascinating and very personal collection of items, placed her in collaboration with the artist Ruth Ewan. I’d certainly recommend a visit to this gallery and I was slightly disappointed to miss an exhibition of the Lindisfarne Gospels which is opening in a few weeks.

After having spent an hour in the Laing, I thought I’d cross over the road to inspect the city’s central library. There’s some interestingly designed furniture in the library and I liked that there were plenty of tables and power points dotted around the building.

There’s a bright and open design, all very modern, but I thought entirely soulless. There seems to be a trend recently to make public buildings such as libraries resemble the entrance to a shopping centre. The beautiful Victorian library that was once on this site was constructed in 1881, but was pulled down in 1967 to be replaced by a hideous concrete building which treated pedestrians with contempt and was designed for the benefit of the car driver, not least because they built a road through the site as a pretext for it being needed in the first place. I’ll leave others to form their own opinion of T. Dan Smith, who was responsible for so much destruction of the city centre. Anyway the dreadful concrete building, designed by Basil Spence, was such a disaster that it was pulled down in 2007.

One part of the artwork by Sean Henry, who I’ve written about on numerous occasions before. I’ve seen his artworks in Holland Park in London, in Colchester, Paddington and in Woking, where he’s from.

The sculpture, titled Man with Potential Selves, is in three parts, with the same man in a standing, walking and floating pose.

The third part, with it certainly being quite an intriguing and noticeable artwork. For anyone who wants to see it, it’s located on Grainger Street, just opposite the city’s central railway station.

And on that point, it was time to walk to Newcastle’s central railway station to get a service to Darlington, a town which I hadn’t visited before.

August 29, 2022
Newcastle – Laing Art Gallery (Steel Tailor’s Shears)

Just as an off-shoot of my post about the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle.

One of the most intriguing exhibitions at the gallery is the “These Are Our Treasures” which has a variety of items which are very meaningful to local people. The exhibition has been put together with the help of artist Ruth Ewan and it’s there until 11 February 2023. I have a great deal of time for items which are unexceptional in themselves, but which have a story behind them.

The display label for this exhibit reads:

“Steel Tailor’s Shears. My father bought them from Bowman the Tailor on Newgate Street in Morpeth. He bought them to use in his shop, he was a draper. When I was 10 (I am now 83) I used to stop to see the tailor through his shop window. He would be sitting cross legged on his shop counter working by Tilley lamp (paraffin lamp) sewing suits.

I still use them today and feel they connect me to my family history, place of business and home town. They were used by me after my father died when I took over his business. The shears stayed on Newgate Street right up until 1999, my wife, son, daughter and staff used them until I retired and the shop closed. They have never been sharpened since Mr Bowman used them to cut fabric to make his tailored suits. So it is surprising how sharp they still are! Charles, Morpeth.”

August 29, 2022
Thursday – Brewdog, Head of Steam II and the Newcastle Tap (Part 3)

Continuing on from my little meander which had started at Head of Steam Quayside.

When I visited Newcastle last year, the Brewdog was closed, which meant I never got to tick it off my list.

I was pleased to see the selection from Funky Fluid, one of my favourite breweries, it was just like being back in Poland for a brief moment. Well, perhaps I exaggerate there, but it’s nice to see Funky Fluid beers in the UK. The service in the pub was friendly, engaging and personable, with the team member nonplussed by Brewdog Plus. I’ve used that word deliberately as I’m moderately amused (I need to get out more) that the word ‘nonplussed’ is used to describe complete opposites (ie, a contronym), it’s original proper meaning is to be perplexed. But, mostly it seems used today, and indeed how I’m using it here, to mean the reverse, as the team member knew exactly how to process it. He mentioned he couldn’t serve the Funky Fluid beers yet as they weren’t officially on, which I assume means that they weren’t on the till, but he gave me tasters of two of them. That included the Triple Gelato Peanut Butter and Jelly, one of the finest beers out there, which I had in Krakow a few weeks ago.

The very acceptable Made for Us from Alpha Delta Brewing, a local brewery.

The bar had a laid-back atmosphere, although I had expected it to be a little busier in the evening. It’s very well reviewed on-line, although I was moderately humoured by this review:

“My friend, wearing a yellow suit was refused entry as they do not allow fancy dress. When told that this was his normal attire the BrewDog employee rudely replied ‘I very much doubt that’.”

It was then a quick visit to Greggs to pick up my free sausage roll as part of the O2 offer. This branch opened until 04:00, showing just what a modern and dynamic city Newcastle is. Norwich doesn’t have any late-night Greggs and it’s that sort of cosmopolitan and on-trend approach that we need here….

The Quayside Head of Steam I had visited earlier in the evening had opened in 2016, but this Head of Steam outlet in the city centre is much older and was opened in 1996 (and I think was their first). This bar set-up is a little unfortunate, the pub hadn’t updated its beers on Untappd, there was no blackboard and two customers were sitting in front of the pumps. The only thing I could do was to take a photo of the pumps and get the barman to read them out individually, a situation that wasn’t really ideal in a venue that was otherwise empty. The service was welcoming, although I was puzzled once again why this venue was so quiet for a Thursday evening.

I went for the Cloudy Lemonade from the nearly always reliable Vault City and the Papaya Don’t Preach from Brew York. Both beers were suitably refreshing, but the lemon curd taste from the Vault City was really rather lovely. The bar has now updated its Untappd list of beers and they have some excellent options, but as I couldn’t see at the time what else they had, I just left. My own radical opinion here, not that anyone will care, is that if they can’t keep Untappd up to date, then either list beers on a blackboard or take those chairs away from the bar.

Some of my professional photography skills, let’s call this artistic rather than on the slant. It’s a slightly odd design as well, the toilets are on the ground floor, but the bar itself is on the first floor.

The outside of Head of Steam and next door was the Newcastle Tap (the craft beers and pizza is visible at least) and unlike their neighbour, they had an up-to-date Untappd list and the beers were also clearly listed above the bar.

A fancy interior, I liked the barrel arrangement upstairs, that looked rather decadent I thought. They were serving pizzas as well, and although I had already eaten, they did look tempting, with 12 and 18 inch options. I managed to resist though, which I thought was quite impressive of me. This was another bar with a relaxed vibe and it felt suitably on-trend, with a mixture of cask and keg like the other pubs, but perhaps the widest range of cask options I had seen all evening, including at the Wetherspoons that I didn’t stay long in.

The bar is operated by Pivovar, who also run the Tapped Leeds amongst some others such as Pivni, Sheffield Tap and York Tap. I went for the John Barleycorn from Northern Alchemy, which was a little bland although it was well-kept.

The second beer I went for was the Honeycomb Pale Ale from Seven Bro7hers Brewery, lots of honeycomb here and a very nice drink to end the evening on. They make a chocolate honeycomb stout as well which I’ll look out for, that sounds like a liquid Crunchie bar to me and needs investigation.

Back to the hotel down these steps, I was quite pleased to see that there were numerous others walking up and down as otherwise it would have felt quite eerie.

Back under the High Level Bridge, which had been constructed between 1847 and 1849, designed by Robert Stephenson. It’s not the most subtle of structures, but it is an engineering marvel for the period and it’s Grade I listed. The top deck still carries trains over the Tyne, whilst the bottom deck carries cars (although recently it has been limited to taxis and buses) and pedestrians.

And a healthy evening snack in the Travelodge.

August 26, 2022
Thursday – Crossing London on a Rail Strike and Flying to Newcastle with BA (Part 1)

Starting Thursday having stayed at the YHA at Lee Valley, I was fully rested and ready for the excitement of crossing London during a rail strike. Although I’ve trailed that bit with the title of this post really.

Much of Britain has been a bit short of water recently and this is the River Lea looking the driest that I’ve seen it. Incidentally, it can be spelled either Lea or Lee, or as Wikipedia notes “the spelling Lea predominates west (upstream) of Hertford, but both spellings (Lea and Lee) are used from Hertford to the River Thames”.

The railway tracks for the Greater Anglia services are on the left, but they weren’t running at all from Cheshunt, although there were some trains shuttling up and down the line. The Overground was operating, although it wasn’t going to be the next day, but only from 08:00 which is later than usual. I wanted to get across London as quickly as possible for my 13:20 flight, so I caught the 08:02 service. I’m not entirely sure why the Overground was operating later than usual, but I assume it was because there were difficulties in getting drivers in on time.

The service was busy when I got off at Seven Sisters, but I think that was just a lot of people switching to the underground network who would have otherwise got the train into central London. It wasn’t busy for much of my journey, but I can imagine it was nigh on intolerable for many.

This is how I spent much of my journey, in the peace and quiet of the underground. I arrived at Heathrow T5 at around 09:40, which was as fast as I could have expected even on a day without strikes, so I was more than pleased with TFL.

I don’t often fly on domestic flights for environmental reasons (and my flights will be decreasing sharply next year anyway), but I have to note, it is much cheaper and convenient than using rail. However, I didn’t have many options when I needed to be in Newcastle and the trains weren’t running. A single fare cost £30 on BA, which I thought was very reasonable and compared to the railways, it’s just far better in terms of comfort, speed, efficiency and cost.

They’ve changed the security queueing system around a bit and I was stopped from going to the premium security bit by a staff member who said that there was no access via the way I wanted to go. I asked how I could get to the premium security line and she pointed me the way that I had been going. I suspect my dishevelled look must have slightly disorientated her. The staff were all friendly, but there was a woman complaining that her liquids were being seized. Again and again this happens, surely people must realise they can’t sneak stuff through, although I’m always impressed how surprised people pretend to look.

I had time to visit the BA Galleries South lounge and the breakfast spread here has improved no end recently. I’m not saying this is world class, but it’s more than sufficient and everything has reverted to being self-service once again. I’m pleased that they’ve stopped insisting on putting the bacon and sausages into rolls, it’s now served separately.

How decadent.

There’s now a market table as they’re calling it, with salad items and the like, as well as rolls.

And it’s the first time that I’ve seen nachos in a BA lounge as well.

Some of the hot options, which includes pies, chicken curry, vegan curry, chilli and the like. I was very pleased that the gravy was self-pour. They took the breakfast options away just before 11:00 and brought the hot food out just after 11:15, which I think is earlier than it used to be.

I was pleased to see the gravy was self-serve because that meant I could drown my pies in it, just as I like them. I’m easily pleased I accept. They’ve changed to pea and ham pies this month, and the quality is very acceptable indeed. I could have had quite a few of these. I know that as I did have quite a few of them.

There seem to be a lot of screens down around Heathrow at the moment, although the number of staff seems to have increased.

Boarding was a mess and it took them nearly 40 minutes from announcing the gate was open to letting people through. It’s easy to be critical, but they could have explained what was happening as I could see the annoyance on the faces of some people. And, if I couldn’t, the man next to me shouted down his phone to someone “it’s blasted carnage here”. I’ve changed the “blasted” word to be less rude, but readers (if it’s plural) of this blog can guess the word he used. I privately thought that the word “carnage” was a bit strong for a queue of this length, but sometimes people like to recount their stories of drama.

It transpired, as the pilot mentioned it on board, that the computer system had gone down and the gate staff were trying to fix it. They probably could have just said that whilst we were waiting, but they did look short-staffed and perhaps they were just focused on getting people through quickly. Boarding by group fell apart, although the queue I was in moved quickly and so I boarded relatively early. It was all fine, but it isn’t helped that there aren’t enough seats in this part of the terminal, so it’s not entirely comfortable waiting.

I can’t recall many air bridges that are so long, the terminal building is visible at the rear of the photo.

The flight was impeccable as ever and I had plenty of space and no-one seated next to me. The snack was the same crisps and water as with every other flight, but I’m content with that. Helpful and personable crew, but that’s fairly standard in my experience of British Airways.

Safely in Newcastle in under an hour from taking off. We had taken off 44 minutes late and arrived 38 minutes late, but I wasn’t in any hurry, so all was well. The boarding had been a bit odd as people were trickling on the aircraft for over half an hour, but on a day of a national rail strike, I was just glad to have arrived safely.

The aircraft is G-NEOR which as the registration suggests is an Airbus A321 NEO which BA have had since new in 2018. Of no interest to anyone else, but just for my own interest, I haven’t been on this aircraft before. The weather was colder than I’ve experienced in Norfolk over recent weeks, which to be honest was just a relief.

And I’ll leave this post here, starting off again soon enough with getting on the Newcastle Metro into the city and then checking that the pubs were all still open.

August 22, 2022
Thursday – Metro into Newcastle, Craft Beer and Peace at the Travelodge

Continuing on from the earlier riveting blog post, I was safely at Newcastle airport and ready to get to the city centre using the Metro system. I’ve used it before on a few occasions, but I’d entirely forgotten nearly everything about it. But, that’s the advantage in having a blog, the memories can all come flooding back.

Fortunately, there were plenty of signs saying which ticket to buy as well as numerous machines which were easy to operate. It’s formally known as the Tyne and Wear Metro, although often commonly referred to as the Newcastle Metro. The network isn’t as popular as it once was and it feels a little tired, it’s not really a surprise that passenger numbers are lower than they were in the 1980s when the Metro opened.

I like using different public transport systems and this one seemed to run regularly, although the signage wasn’t always particularly clear on platforms. The prices are also expensive, but yet the penalty fare for not having a ticket is set at just £20. They’ve already increased fares by 10% at the beginning of 2022, so they’re going to struggle to raise them again, or at least, they’ll price even more people off the network. However, they get some lovely shiny new trains next year, so that might boost ridership. It’s notable though that the £3.90 to get to the city centre is more than to get from Heathrow to central London, which is £3.50.

It’s quite a complex network, but the airport service goes directly to the city centre and there’s no need to change.

It was all clean and comfortable, although I didn’t see any staff on platforms or walking through the trains.

After having arrived safely into Central Station, the next task was to check-in at the hotel, which was a very reasonably priced Travelodge on the Quayside. I had forgotten just how many steps I had to go down to get to the hotel, which was a reminder of how many I’d have to go back up later on.

The standard Travelodge set-up, this was once seemed to have been modernised relatively recently and it had air conditioning which sort of worked. It was nice and bright, with everything working as it should.

The windows didn’t open, but I was pleased at the views over the River Tyne.

As the hotel was next to the Quayside pub, operated by JD Wetherspoon, I popped in there on my way by. It’s not the first time that I’ve been here, I remember going here with Liam a few years ago. The pub seemed organised and clean, but the real ale selection was the weakest I’ve seen in any Wetherspoon pub, just some generic options from the generic Greene King. It’s a quite a well reviewed Wetherspoon though (well, relatively), although I’m puzzled by the recent review:

“Can’t believe I’ve just been turned away from the Quayside for wearing shorts on a hot bank holiday weekend”

I can’t imagine how bad they must have been for a Wetherspoons to turn someone away, I’m quite intrigued.

There didn’t seem much point in staying at the Wetherspoon pub if there was nothing interesting in terms of beer, but I was more excited about the next venue, the Head of Steam Quayside which was just a short walk away along the Tyne.

Views over the Tyne to the Sage Gateshead, and a BAM hoarding for those with good eyesight (or just strong observational skills).

The beer list at the Head of Steam Quayside, which is one of two venues that they have in Newcastle and I hadn’t previously been to either of them. The pub’s Untappd list was out of date when I visited, but it has been updated since. There’s a decent selection of cask and keg, with a range of different beer styles.

A quirky interior, I liked it. All very laid-back and comfortable, this is a pub that I’d visit regularly if I lived a bit nearer to it. It’s not actually as well reviewed on Google as the Wetherspoons that I walked into and then out of again, which seems odd. It mostly seems to be reviews about the food and service times, customers seem much happier about the beer.

I thought that this was creative (the light, not the arrangement of safety devices at the back).

The barman complimented me on my strategy of ordering three one thirds, so I decided that I liked him and that he had excellent judgement. He was conversational and engaging, indeed there was an inviting atmosphere to the whole arrangement. I had the Jellyfish Nebula pale ale and the Spree & Easy IPA from Tooth & Claw Brewing, although the little star of this show was the Maris the Dank Engine 2 from S43, an 8.1% Double IPA.

There’s an outside seating area as well for those who like sitting in the street, although it’s not really my thing.

As there are quite a few more pubs for me to still write about from my evening’s meander around Newcastle, I’ll break that into a separate post. I would claim that it’s to increase anticipation, but it’s realistically just so I can make progress in a slow and steady manner in actually posting things.

August 5, 2022
Newcastle – Holy Jesus Hospital

This old building in Newcastle looked interesting to me, even though it’s clearly been the victim of some rather aggressive road building practices in recent decades.

It’s likely necessary to click on this dual map to mark it larger, but it shows how dominant the road system has become to the geography of Newcastle over the last century. What would have been a quiet area has now become something of a traffic junction.

Anyway, back to the building itself, this is the former Holy Jesus Hospital building which was constructed in 1681 for the Corporation of Newcastle upon Tyne. It was designed to accommodate a master of the hospital, as well as 39 poor freemen or their widows, with an extension added on the rear in 1886.

This usage as an almshouses was a continuation of its hospital usage from its period as an Augustinian Friary between 1291 and 1539. After the Reformation, a request made by Thomas Cromwell to leave the building intact for usage as the King’s Council of the North meeting facilities, a bit like an early Northern Powerhouse. It wasn’t much used for this though, so the structure started to fall into disrepair, before eventually in the seventeenth century it all came under the control of the City Corporation.

The beautiful sandstone fountain outside the front entrance is now quite worn, but it does date from the late seventeenth century and so I suppose that’s understandable. The street level around it has been raised though, so it has now lost some of its visual impact. There is also a tower at the site, which I managed not to see as I was rushing to the pub, with this dating from some time around the late sixteenth century (the tower, not the pub).

For some time the building was used as the John George Joicey Museum from 1950, which would seem an ideal usage for the former hospital today. However, that closed in 1983 and it is now used as offices by the National Trust and other organisations. Lovely as this is, it seems an entirely unsuitable usage for such an interesting building, which should really be accessible to the public. There are occasional opportunities to visit the interior as part of a guided tour, but it’s a shame that more isn’t always available given it that it was in use as a hospital for over 700 years and is one of only two seventeenth century brick buildings to survive in the city.

July 11, 2021
Newcastle – The Town Mouse

When I mentioned a few days ago on Facebook that I was in Newcastle, Tony from the brilliant Hop & Vine in Hull suggested popping into The Town Mouse. I suspect I would have gone here anyway as part of my tour of Good Beer Guide pubs in the city, but I wasn’t going to neglect a recommendation from Tony and made this one a priority.

On my arrival there was a friendly welcome from the staff member and she was happy to find me a table even though they were busy and I was on my own. I add that as it would have been easy for her to shove me outside where there was a small table, but instead she did also offer a table inside. Tony had mentioned that the micropub was run by a man named Jon, and when I heard the staff member use that name to someone looking managerial I decided that I’d introduce myself (which was very brave, I normally try and introduce myself to someone who is nothing to do with anything). Anyway, on this occasion it worked out and it was great to have a chance to talk to Jon about his bar, craft beer bars in Warsaw (I don’t tire of talking about the exciting beer situation in Poland) and the Hop & Vine, amongst numerous other things. I’ll see if I can convince him into a little interview for this blog 🙂

This is genuinely beautiful, a range of beer styles and a mixture of cask and keg. The cask range is more limited than usual, but will return to a wider selection when things return to normality in the world. Underneath this is a multi-page list of cans and bottles, which had sufficient choice for me to want to make a few return visits. I like it when pubs do this, as when they’ve got a gap in beer style for any reason, then customers can at least have the option of having a can or bottle or something similar to what they wanted. Although having noted that, there’s an opportunity to try a whole range of different beer options here.

The Damn Dead Blueberry from Wild Weather brewery, who I hadn’t heard of but are from Reading and they brew some other similar options in the range including raspberry, apricot, kiwi, grapefruit, peach, strawberry, gooseberry and even cucumber. I’m not sure how the cucumber ends up tasting, but I like a bit of innovation in beer. This beer was quite intriguing given that it had a sour taste initially (unsurprising as it’s a sour) but then it seemed to have something of a sweetness from the blueberry.

This is the Pastel De Nada Mexicake Stout from Elusive Brewing and, showing my ignorance again, I hadn’t heard of this brewery either (although I should have done, I had one of their beers in Brewdog Ealing a few weeks ago, but I have a bad memory for this sort of thing). Jon explained much more about them and I shall keep an eye out for their beers in future, it seems they have some collaborations with other respected breweries, not least Weird Beard as with this beer. At 8.7%, this was still smooth and there was that lovely decadent aftertaste that I crave with vanilla and chocolate flavours. There’s a warming touch from the chilli as well, although I thought this was quite subtle and I liked the subtle tastes with this beer. Definitely a beer

As an irrelevant aside, I didn’t receive any badges on Untappd for either of the beers that I had in this micropub. For anyone who uses Untappd, they’ll know that this is quite a rare occurrence not to get a badge. I mention this as I’m not sure that Jon is quite as excited and engaged about Untappd badges as I am. But I’m easily pleased and need distraction and he runs a bar, so he doesn’t need any more distractions.

Anyway, back to this bar which has been operating for a few years in a central location in Newcastle. Tony did comment on whether I noticed any similarities between this and his pub, and Jon said there were influences that he had incorporated from the Hop & Vine. The cellar element was of course the most evident in terms of the design, but there was a community feel here just as I’d like. It was clear that there were many regulars coming in and the environment was relaxed and comfortable. I liked that I was found a table willingly and that the staff were knowledgeable and helpful. But, this was one of those locations where I felt if I was new to the area than I’d be made to feel welcome not just by the staff, but also by other customers. On that basis, what I love from the Hop & Vine has carried through here. I’m pleased to report that I think this is a quite marvellous pub and absolutely right to be in the Good Beer Guide. Definitely one of the best micropubs that I’ve been in.

July 11, 2021
National Express : Newcastle to London Victoria Coach Station

I fear that I’ve been lulled into a false sense of confidence about National Express following a rather brilliant journey a few weeks ago from Norwich to London. This is the National Express bus station in Newcastle, which was perhaps not unsurprisingly closed at 22:45 which was when the bus was leaving to get me to London. Although on this point, I recall in the United States that the Greyhound bus stations I went to remained open if there were services going out. What was more surprising was that National Express haven’t bothered putting more than a couple of benches in the area, leaving most people to stand up.

Here we are waiting for the service, which was due to arrive into London at 06:30.

The coach turned up twenty minutes early, but this was mostly so that the drivers could stand in the entrance to the vaping. I have no interest in what they do, but it takes a little away from the National Express message not to smoke or vape on their vehicles if their drivers are doing it. The staff member was greeting customers by, well, saying nothing and just looking at their tickets or phones to ensure that they were meant to travel on that service. He wasn’t impolite to me, but it was all a bit cold. Although I was fortunate, he was quite abrupt with some customers behind.

I felt sorry for the lad who was about 18 and had managed to buy a coach ticket for the wrong day and he then resorted to trying to buy a ticket from other passengers. I’m not sure what happened there in the end, but I don’t think he was able to travel. Nor indeed were a couple of customers at other stops further down the line who had turned up on spec in a bid to get to London.

I boarded first and so had the full choice of seats although the first couple of rows on the right of the above photo were reserved. This is always a dilemma, there’s a better seat which is the emergency exit seat at the rear near the toilets, but there were a few groups of friends visible and I thought they’d probably want to chat and the like at the back, so it might be quieter at the front. So I picked the seat behind the two closed off for the drivers, so at least no-one could recline into me.

Being used to not annoying coach drivers I had already put my bag on the floor and put my seatbelt on, so the driver meandered by me to announce loudly to a few people further back “get your bags off the chairs as this service will be full and you will have people sitting next to you”. It’s probably sensible to tell people to make it easier for later customers to board, but I did wonder how personable this approach was.

That’s also the difference between the Caledonian Sleeper service I took last week and this coach service. There the stewards were wearing masks, there were big gaps between customers and there was a level of professionalism to the whole arrangement. National Express didn’t bother faffing around with that convenience and safety, they filled every seat. There was a slight disregard from the drivers over customers wearing seatbelts, but I think it did say to wear them on the pre-recorded announcement.

On this, I note a swathe of negative reviews of National Express for returning to full seating with no social distancing, but their argument is that the Government said they could from 29 May 2021, so that’s what they were going to do. And I can’t much complain about that given the low price of the ticket that they charged me.

The service isn’t the easiest to sleep on, as every stop the driver turns on all the lights so that customers can board. There’s probably not much that can be done about that, otherwise people would be tripping down the aisles when boarding, but it’s not the most conducive with regards to being a restful environment. At 02:30 we also had the added excitement of stopping at a service station for thirty minutes, although this was handy to use their facilities.

As for the seats, they were crammed in to the point of being entirely unsuitable in my mind for an overnight service. With every seat full, it was all far too cramped for my liking, although since I seem to be able to sleep anywhere, I didn’t much let it bother me. I’m not sure that National Express themselves would even claim they’re going for comfort here (if they were being honest), it’s simply a way of getting people from A to B. For anyone taller than me (so over six feet) they’d likely be distinctly uncomfortable.

The drivers didn’t worry about both coming in at the same time to use the toilets at the service station and leaving the coach open and unlocked. I imagine at some point someone will board the coach and nick passenger belongings, or indeed the entire coach, and then some more care might be taken. There were two drivers who took it in turns to drive the coach and although there was no real effort at customer service, they were professional drivers at the wheel and it all felt safe and secure en route. I suppose that I’d rather have this than a driver who is very friendly but yet collides with numerous things during the journey.

Here we are in London Victoria Coach Station, a few minutes before the expected arrival time. On the plus side, this journey only cost £12 to get me from Newcastle to London. It was also on time, the driving was safe, the USB points worked and the coach was clean. On the negative side, it was cramped, uncomfortable and the drivers were grumpy. I’m not really a fan of coach travel, so the positive here for me is that I’m going to try and take the train in the future, it’s a better way to travel as far as I’m concerned. Although I might try Flixbus now they’re in the UK, as although they used to annoy me, I’ve become something of a fan of theirs.

July 11, 2021
Newcastle – Bacchus

Continuing on my tour of Good Beer Guide pubs in Newcastle, this is Bacchus Bar, which is designed to look like an ocean-liner. Something a little different I suppose….

There was a friendly welcome at the door from the staff member, although I thought that the music was a little loud for my own personal preferences (which are, quite boringly, no music at all). I thought that the atmosphere was a bit muted, but it was a clean and comfortable environment. The beer selection was reasonable, a few different real ales and an effort has been made not to be bland. The staff were personable and pro-active, so everything seemed well managed and efficient.

I went for the Stout 2021 from Nomadic Beers who are a small brewery from the Leeds area. Smooth, dark and chocolately, although perhaps lacking a rich aftertaste, but still very drinkable. The surroundings are a bit decadent, but that’s perhaps a little inevitable when you’re trying to recreate the theme of an ocean liner. There are normally around eight or so real ales on, but they’re down a little at the moment due to current circumstances, but there was still no shortage of options and most beer styles were available.

This is an interesting and long-standing addition to the Good Beer Guide, although I suspect that on Saturday evenings it can all get a bit raucous for my liking. It does though seem to have been serving decent beer for some time, their web-site notes that it was a CAMRA pub of the year runner-up in 1995, so it appears to be something of a survivor. It’s run by a small chain, Sir John Fitzgerald, which I haven’t heard of, but they have numerous pubs in this area. This isn’t a pub I’d have thought to have gone in without the Good Beer Guide recommendation, but I’m pleased that I did.

July 10, 2021
Newcastle – Premier Inn Newcastle Millennium Bridge

This Premier Inn is a short walk from Newcastle city centre and was also very reasonably priced. They’ve changed the check-in time across all Premier Inn hotels to be after 16:00 to give them time to clean the rooms, but they were all ready just before then when I turned up.

The room, which was all clean and sufficiently modern. The television is quite large for a hotel room and it let me cast my phone so that I could watch Britbox on the large screen. The blackout curtains are very effective, I decided to catch up on sleep (not least because I’ve got an overnight coach to London later today) and my alarm woke me at 09:00. Usually before then the sunlight would flood in, cleaners would clank about or other guests would fall over or something outside my room, but none of that happened here.

As an aside, I wasn’t planning to eat at the restaurant at the hotel, but I liked that they’ve included a menu in the room. Some hotels seem to have chucked all of their paperwork out and blamed Covid, which isn’t ideal if they haven’t provided any QR alternatives or similar.

The view from my room and I could see the River Tyne which was a little bonus. To be fair, I didn’t spend long looking at the river and car park view, but it was better than just having a view over air conditioning units or the like. The windows in this hotel also open and aren’t hermetically sealed as some locations seem to think is helpful.

I asked for a few extra milks and the helpful staff member obliged 🙂

I had a little look at the reviews for this hotel, which aren’t universally positive, but it’s above average. The majority of the complaints are about the lack of air conditioning (although at least a large fan was provided) and the behaviour of other guests, with the problem for the hotel it seems of stag and hen groups. I didn’t have any problems in that regard, although I was pleased to find myself at the end of a long corridor.

The whole stay was faultless and it’s starting to become clear that Premier Inn and Travelodge have been able to have the strength to power through this Covid situation, whereas chains such as Accor seem to be positively falling apart. Very friendly staff, a clean room, a quiet location and a reasonable price, all really rather lovely.

July 10, 2021