Fitzgeralds, Newcastle Upon Tyne

This is a good sized, slightly upmarket city centre pub from the ever-reliable Sir John Fitzgerald pub chain. You enter to a comparatively narrow front section lined with banquettes on either side which have been supplemented with some particularly comfy looking chairs. The walls here are wood panelled and decorated with a series of etched mirrors. Eventually the room opens out to the rear, with the servery appearing on the right hand side. Similar furnishings can be found on the raised left hand side of the room, whilst a short flight of steps takes you down to the long, dark wood bar counter with its similarly styled bar back. The walls in this part of the pub have some sort of repeating photo montage covering them, as well as some stylish black and white photographs and blackboards listing the various cask and keg options. Some mirrored pillars and filigree ironwork partitioning add to the pub's classy look. A great retro soundtrack aimed squarely at the pub's obvious middle age target market, played throughout my Sunday evening visit but I was one of only five customers at this time of day and it unfortunately felt that I was intruding somewhat as the staff busied themselves with cleaning and tidying duties. The pub recently won the local CAMRA Area Pub of the Year award, so I was looking forward to a good choice of ales. Options on this visit were Anarchy Blonde Star, Magic Rock Ringmaster, Left Handed Giant Red Five, Almasty Pale, Howling Hops Pale XX and Two by Two Sitting Duck Stout. A giggly barmaid served me a fine pint of the latter and I noted a strong, eclectic keg range including beers from The Kernel, Burning Sky and Hawkshead among others. This is a pretty classy bar that seems to have gone quite upmarket in terms of the way it presents itself, in contrast to the chain's namesake pub in Sunderland which I felt had a wider appeal. I found it difficult to gauge what this pub might be like when it was busier, but left feeling that it was the sort of place you might enjoy with your partner of fussy friends, rather than heading to for a session.