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Poll for date of Halifax crawl. with Spinko
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Detail Pages
The Centurion Bar, Newcastle Upon Tyne
Newcastle Upon Tyne
NE1 5DG
Served areas
The Centurion Newcastle
Good morning everyone, we hope you're safe and well.
As a hygiene precaution, we will be taking card payment only… https://t.co/ZhF8ZCRyv3
8:32 AM Mar 20th 2020 from Twitter Web App
Reviews of The Centurion Bar (Average Rating: 7½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Centurion Bar
Built in 1893, this is a former waiting lounge for first class passengers travelling from Newcastle Central Station. Having spent a period of time as holding cells for British Transport Police and undergoing some rough treatment at the hands of British Rail, who crudely painted over the original tiling and smashed through some of the walls, the place was eventually taken over by a pub company in 2000. They have carefully restored the place back to its original state, leaving us with a great example of Victorian train travel befitting the building's Grade I listing status. The bar can be accessed from both street and platform sides, making it easier to execute a last minute dash for a train. Entering from the street side, you find yourself in a vast room with the servery to the right hand side. The bar has a curved marble topped counter with large integral lamps and a quite remarkable bar back of gigantic proportions which incorporates some huge decoratively tiled pillars, dark wood shelving units, decorative glazed tile capitals and a deep recess with an elaborate ceiling and some dark wood fittings. Some high tables and stools have been arranged opposite the bar, alongside a curved banquette, with standard tables and chairs and plenty more banquettes running through the rest of the room. Modern floorboards look a little incongruous throughout the room, but this fails to distract from the real highlight, which is the quite spectacular tiling on all walls. This sort of tiling can be appreciated in many heritage pubs throughout the country, but I don't think I've ever seen it on a scale as vast as this. The rear wall has a large tile painting of an idyllic rural scene of the sort you might glimpse from a moving train window, whilst the ceiling is dominated by a huge central skylight, around which all manner of decorative tile styles can be appreciated. Some epic pillars are positioned towards the rear and there are doorways on the end wall which both have matching pediments. Some of this grandeur was lost by the draping of Six Nations flags over some of the tile work and the presence of a TV screen which was showing a rather pointless Major League Soccer match for the benefit of no one, whilst a drab soundtrack played in the background. There is also a separate snug room, which I failed to explore and some seating had been arranged in a fenced off area on the pavement outside.
The fine interior thankfully comes equipped with a suitably impressive range of ales from the row of hand pumps on the bar. Options on this visit were Hadrian Border Secret Kingdom and Tyneside Blonde, Caledonian Deuchars IPA, Black Sheep Bitter, Consett Red Dust and Box Social India Brown Ale. I tried a pint of the Secret Kingdom which was in good shape, but maybe a bit pricey by Newcastle's standards at £3.90.
This pub is well worth a visit to admire the wonderful interior which probably surpasses anything you're likely to encounter in the city. However, I'm not convinced that such a vast and rather cold feeling room makes for a particularly great pub environment unless you happen to visit at a busy time of day. For me this didn't work as well as some of the country's best station bars (e.g. York Tap, West Riding Refreshment Rooms, Sheffield Tap) but still very much merits a visit, making a great start or end point for anyone visiting the city by train.
On 16th May 2016
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Danny O'Revey left this review about The Centurion Bar
Extremely ornate station bar, excellent space, very high ceiling, beautiful tiles.
5 real ales, but served rather warm
On 25th November 2014
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1456 recommendations about 1434 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
john mcgraw left this review about The Centurion Bar
As the previous reviewer said this pub was a very pleasant surprise. Forget station bars and think good pub. A very good selection of real ales and a really good place to wait for your train.
On 13th May 2014
- rating: 8
[User has posted 2044 recommendations about 2025 pubs]
View more reviews of The Centurion Bar (10)
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- Official site of the Centurion Bar, contains cask ale details - www.centurion-newcastle.com
- Twitter - The Centurion Newcastle
- CAMRA WhatPub :: The Centurion Bar - whatpub.com
Pub Details
Pub details supplied by members of this site to the best of their knowledge. Please check with pub directly before making a special trip.
- Accommodation : No last updated 27 March 2014 by ROB Camra
- Bar Billiards : No last updated 27 March 2014 by ROB Camra
- Beer Festivals : No last updated 27 March 2014 by ROB Camra
- Beer Garden : No last updated 27 March 2014 by ROB Camra
- CAMRA Discount : No last updated 27 March 2014 by ROB Camra
- Car Park : No last updated 27 March 2014 by ROB Camra
- Child Friendly : Yes last updated 16 May 2016 by Pub SignMan
- Darts : No last updated 27 March 2014 by ROB Camra
- Dog Friendly : Yes last updated 16 May 2016 by Pub SignMan
- Function Room : No last updated 16 May 2016 by Pub SignMan
- Hot Food : Yes last updated 27 March 2014 by ROB Camra
- Jukebox : Yes last updated 27 March 2014 by ROB Camra
- Karaoke : No last updated 27 March 2014 by ROB Camra
- Live Music : Yes last updated 16 April 2010 by David McNally
- Live TV Sports : Yes last updated 27 March 2014 by ROB Camra
- Micropub : No last updated 16 May 2016 by Pub SignMan
- Pinball : Yes last updated 16 April 2010 by David McNally
- Pool Table : No last updated 27 March 2014 by ROB Camra
- Quiz Night : Yes last updated 27 March 2014 by ROB Camra
- Real Ale : Yes last updated 29 July 2013 by Dave McNally
- Real Cider : No last updated 16 May 2016 by Pub SignMan
- Wheelchair Access : Yes last updated 27 March 2014 by ROB Camra
- WiFi : Yes last updated 16 May 2016 by Pub SignMan
