On a day trip to Newcastle yesterday for the footy, we had time to visit/revisit 3 great GBG pubs. First off was the Town Wall ("Toon Waal") - http://www.thetownwall.com/. Great pub and really interesting choices of beers, including 2 house ales, brewed by Wylam.
Next stop was the Strawberry (http://thestrawberrypub.typepad.com/), which couldn't be any nearer to St. James' Park if it tried. Nice roof terrace too - even on a winter's day it's useful - especially when the pub itself is heaving. Great service - reminded me of Edinburgh's Diggers on rugby days - it didn't matter how many people were trying to get served, you never had to wait long for your pint - or, in the case of the Strawberry, 2 pints - yes, they serve in large glasses too which also helps overcome any problems with service.
After the match, we went back to the Town Wall for a couple of pints, then jumped in a cab to take us down to the quayside and the Free Trade Inn (http://www.pubsnewcastle.co.uk/FreeTradeInn.html ), which has terrific views up the Tyne, especially at dusk:
They seem quite proud of their location, judging by the blackboards:
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| 3 CAMRA members out of 5, plus one a son of. |
Back in Deeside, there are, however, a few interesting winter brews on at this time of year. This was the board in the newly refurbished Snug in the Douglas Arms, Banchory last week:
On another tack, the Times continues to help publicise the difficulties in the rural pub business, with this recent article on how lottery money helped save some village pubs:
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