The Blacksmiths Arms, Hartlepool

Lounge to the left with the main bar. Also a back room. One hand pump selling weak real ale. Quite near the Cameron's brewery.

Having failed to make it to the nearby Cameron’s Brewery Tap before it’s 4pm closing time, I decided to console myself with a visit to this fairly large roadside pub. The building is set back slightly from the busy main road and has a three room layout. Entering into a sort of lobby area, you can choose from two bars either side of the front door. On my mid-week visit, the right hand bar was closed, so I went into the larger front left hand room where the friendly landlord gave me a warm welcome on a bitterly cold night. The room is carpeted with banquettes running along the front wall and standard seating elsewhere. There is a lot of open space and the red and cream colour scheme was a bit bland with just a small smattering of pictures on the walls to break things up. The blandness was rounded off nicely by a TV screen on the left hand wall which was showing an ITV quiz show to a rapt audience of two. The servery has a bar back with a cut-through to the rear bar, which in reality is more of a dining room with formal table and chair arrangements. On the bar was the obligatory Cameron’s Strongarm, plus Jennings Bitter, which by some stroke of luck, is just £1.85 a pint on Tuesday nights. The beer was in pretty good nick and I felt a bit for the landlord who was very friendly, but clearly struggling to attract customers. This is an inoffensive place for a pint but aside from a promising exterior, the pub really lacks any character. I was certainly happy with my cheap pint, but despite the landlord’s best efforts, there was nothing here that made me want to stay longer.