This pub was visited on Friday 27th November 2015 in the early evening. Margaret had heard some poor comments about the place, but in spite of these, the pub was quite pleasant.
The pub had a roaring fire and was very clean and tidy with an equally tidy dining room, although there was no evidence that food was regularly available.
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| The Forge Inn |
The words used to describe this pub are:
- Clean and tidy
- Pleasant although quiet atmosphere
This pub was visited on Wednesday 19th August 2015.
It is a typical traditional town tavern. It was clean and tidy with a good bar and served nice coffee.
There was a separate pool room and the pub served food at lunchtimes.
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| The Anchor |
The words used to describe this pub are:
- Pleasant atmosphere
- Clean and tidy
We visited here at lunchtime on Wednesday 19th August.
The building is pretty and in a nice location. It is modern and nicely decorated and although no bar as such, a good selection of real ales were on sale.
It is more a hotel than pub and majors on meals.
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| The Percy Arms |
The words to describe this pub are:
- Upmarket restaurant/bar
- Not particularly friendly atmosphere
This pub was visited in the evening on Friday 15th August 2015
It is a friendly "locals" pub with lots of real ales.
The decor is spartan but clean with no TV or music. A variety of games were available (scrabble etc)
The roll of honour for a leek club showed that old traditions were still kept up.
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| John Bull Inn |
The words used to describe this pub are:
- Friendly
- A true community pub
We visited this pub on Friday evening the 15th August 2015.
There is a smallish "pub" area but it is quite nicely done. In addition there is a modern, light and airy conservatory dining area.
The pub adjoins the camp-site and obviously concentrates on food (we ate here and the food was quite nice)
No real ales and limited soft drinks.
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| The Shepherds Rest |
The words to describe this pub are:
- Pleasant
- Clean & tidy
- Quite small
This pub was visited in the evening on Friday 15th August 2015
"Spit & Sawdust" came to mind when we entered the pub. It may be in the process of some renovation, but the outside was very tatty so this is unlikely.
Kath had a huge glass of mineral water, but there were no real ales on sale.
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| The Farriers Arms |
The words to describe the pub are:
- Spit and Sawdust
- Uncomfortable
This pub was visited at lunchtime on Wednesday 29th July 2015
The pub was like a "campsite" pub and was quite full (people from the caravan sites?)
The food was adequate but not worth waiting an hour for.
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| The Black Bull |
The words used to describe the pub are:
- Old Fashioned
- Mis-matched decor
A visit was made to this pub on Wednesday 29th July 2015
This is a very traditional pub, with lots of different small areas, including a pool table.
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| The Angel Inn |
The words used to describe this pub are:
- Friendly
- Clean but dowdy looking
A visit was made to this pub in the evening on 11th March 2015.
The pub is a typical old fashioned "local" and on the evening we visited, a darts match was in progress.
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| The Blink Bonny |
The words used to describe the pub are:
We went to this pub on 11th March 2015 for an evening meal to celebrate my birthday.
Maureen came, as well as the usual foursome.
The pub is described as a Gastropub and is also a small 5* hotel.
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| The Joiners Arms |
The words used to describe the pub are:
- Slightly up-market
- Warm & cosy
- Excellent food
We went to the Hope & Anchor on 25th February 2015
The pub looks traditional from the outside but has been modernised inside.
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| Hope & Anchor |
The words that were used to describe this pub are:
- inside now looks like a seaside cafe
We visited and had lunch at this pub on 25th February 2015
It has a traditional bar area with bistro style dining. There is also a separate refurbished dining area. There was a long wait (warned in advance) for the food which was passable. (pickled onions on sausage and mash!!!)
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| Red Lion Inn |
The pub has real ales and the bar area was full.
We visited this pub on 25th February 2015.
It is an old stone, well maintained pub, painted yellow - very sunny!
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| The Sun Inn |
The words to describe this pub were:
- Warm welcome
- Driftwood themed interior
On 6th February 2015 we visited the Black Bull and had a meal. This is a refurbished, smartish, large town pub with good food, nicely presented.
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| Black Bull |
The words to describe this pub were:
- Friendly
- Pleaseant enough atmosphere
On 6th February 2015 we visited The Office in Morpeth.
This is a newly opened very small pub in premises that were previously a monumental masons.
The words to describe this pub were:
- Unique
- Small
- Cosy
- Intimate
- Simple
- Great beer & atmosphere
- Friendly & welcoming
Also on 28th January 2015 we visited and lunched at The Wellwood where we found the food was good. This is a bistro-ish type of pub and has undergone a refurbishment.
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| The Wellwood |
The words to describe this pub were as follows:
Visiting Amble on the 28th January 2015 we first went to The Schooner.
This is a traditional town pub where Kath and Margaret got free coffee.
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| The Schooner |
The words to describe this pub were:
After lunch on 21st January 2015 we visited the Hogs Head Inn for pudding. Verdict on the pudding was - OK
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| The Hoggshead Inn |
Visiting on 21st January 2015 after leaving the Alnwick Arms we lunched at the Black Swan Inn.
The food was good/OK
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| Black Swan |
21st of January 2015 saw us in Alnwick.
The Alnwick Arms is a traditional town pub almost akin to a working men's club.
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| The Alnwick Arms |
On 9th January 2015 we made an early evening visit to the Ox Inn.
This is a traditional country pub with good food.
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| Ox Inn |
The words to describe this pub were:
- Nice ambience
- Basic
- Small
On the 26th November 2014, after an abortive visit to the The Blackbird (the chef was ill!) we stopped off at The Seven Stars.
This is a modern town pub where we experienced some surprisingly good food (mainly beefburgers)
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| Seven Stars |
The words to describe this pub were:
At lunchtime on Wednesday 26th November 2014 we made our first foray.
The St Mary's Inn is a new pub on the site of the old St Mary's Hospital adjacent to a new up-market housing development.
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| St Mary's Inn |
It had been decided to describe the visit to the pub in just a few words, and the words chosen for here were:
For a few years now, we have talked about visiting some of the lesser known pubs in Northumberland - The Bridge of Aln being one such pub.
One evening sometime in the last few months we finally decided that we should compile a list and begin the project. The original intention was to go to those pubs in Northumberland that neither Glyn & Margaret nor Kath and I had previously visited.
Discussion followed about how and when to undertake the task and we finally decided to set a particular day each week to visit at least one of the pubs on the list.
One early lesson learnt was that as we were starting the exercise in November, many of the country pubs did not open during the day and some only opened at the weekend.
