Free Trade Inn, Newcastle Upon Tyne

As noted below, this pub is proudly perched on a hillside overlooking the River Tyne towards Newcastle. It was having an external paint job done on my visit with no signage. I found myself standing across the road from it peering at my map when a passer by put me straight. Again as noted below, it's a bit of a dive inside but the beer does the talking in these sort of places and there is a great view to relieve the drab surroundings. My worry is that they would overdo any internal changes and spoil the alehouse character. I counted nine hand pumps which had a cider, Almasty Echelon, Allendale GFPA & Pennine Pale, Roosters Alternative Facts, Oakham Citra, Fyne Jarl, Cullercoats Portland and Alchemy Citra and Mosaic Pale. I went for the GFPA which was in reasonably good nick. I saw a headline somewhere recently saying that "Free Trade Means Cheaper Prices" but that certainly isn't the case here as this 4.7% abv beer was £3.80 making it more expensive than several places in the centre of Newcastle. Despite that I thought it was a great place and well worth visiting. It's listed in the GBG under Byker but isn't really there nor the City Centre as I got a bus here and it was several stops.

Probably the best pub of the day as it had Jaipur which is one of my favourites. One of our companions was starving by now so he had a pie which looked OK. By the way, take a pen to the toilets and see if you can find a space to write something!!

Just off the Quayside, close to the mouth of the Ouseburn, this is a lively and popular local's pub and ale house. A corner entrance takes you into an L-shaped room with a similar shaped servery opposite. The bar has a nice dark wood counter and traditional bar back and was pretty tricky to reach due to a long line of bar blockers perched on high stools the entire length. To the right of the entrance there are high stools opposite the bar underneath windows that give you a great view out across the Tyne. Three steps at the far end lead you down into a small seating area which has a handful of tables and chairs, a couple of benches and a fireplace on the end wall. Pictures of well known local landmarks adorn the walls which have been painted in a truly unlovable colour scheme and seemed to be in a pretty bad state of disrepair. Over on the left hand side of the pub there is a space for standing room only, beyond which you'll find a decent looking lounge area of sorts, where plenty more seating can be found in a relatively smart and well kept space. Music played quietly throughout my stay, with the chatter from around the room periodically drowning it out entirely and I also noticed a juke box on one wall. The ale range here was particularly strong, as befits a pub that won the Tyneside CAMRA Pub of the Year award a few years back. Options on handpull this time were Fyne Ales Jarl, Out There Celestial Love, Left Handed Giant Lactose Tolerant, Wylam Silver Ghost, Credence Pale and a collaborative brew from Wylam and Left Handed Giant called Ctrl, Alt Del. There were a couple of pumps with turned clips and a good keg range included numerous beers from local micros. My pint of the Lactose Tolerant was outstanding and I was served by a very helpful barman who talked me through some of the options. This place is a great community boozer with an outstanding ale range - a winning combination if ever there was one. I found the place a bit tatty and frayed around the edges and felt that with a little bit more care and attention, this could be a real destination pub. I really enjoyed my time here and could quite easily have settled down for the rest of the evening had there not been other exciting pubs to discover further up the valley.

Doesn't look too promising from outside and to be fair the wedge shaped interior isn't much to get excited about, painted a hideous nicotine/faecal yellow with fairly battered fittings. However two aspects work in its favour. Firstly. the fantastic elevated view of the Tyne (and bridges) from its windows and beer garden; secondly, the ale range - six in total, from Jarl, Allendale, Thornbridge and Top Out. Unsure whether the ‘Free Trade Inn’ pump featuring a cat's face actually dispensed anything, but said moggy was perched atop the (free) jukey and as happy as Larry. My Top Out Smoked Porter was in good nick, if rather heavy going. Also of note was the fridge stocking a good variety of bottled and tinned foreign fayre, plus nine craft keg offerings, the prices of which varied from reasonable to silly but were clearly marked on a blackboard. Friendly barmaid but she wasn't good at basic chores, with dead glasses littered around inside and out. If you have a day to do Newcastle and the weather’s decent, it’s worth popping out here for a pint and a view. With a bit of TLC and less litter, it could have been classed as essential.

Excellent pub, well described in detail below. It's one basic room really but with a couple of distinct areas. We sat in the area just to the left and rear of the bar and had a good look at all the pictures on the walls. There's a jukebox, the top of which is apparently the favoured lounging place for the pub cat, who for some reason is called CraigDavid. He has his own Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/CDPCfreetrade. 5 beers available on our visit and between us we tried 4 of them, all were in excellent nick. Friendly, knowledgeable barstaff add to the appeal. A pub we'll be visiting again and again I suspect.