Poetic License, Sunderland

With time for one last pub in the North East, we headed to Sunderland to try this hotel bar which looks out over the beach and the North Sea. You enter through the Roker Hotel lobby and have to wait at a podium to be greeted. You wait and wait and wait. Eventually a chirpy waitress arrived to show us to a table. There are 5 handpulls. But none were clipped. After another wait, I asked what real ale they served. She started listing some beers. But alarm bells started ringing when Beavertown Neck Oil was mentioned. I'm not aware of that being sold in cask. Nevertheless, I plumped for the S43 Trail Blazer, which arrived as a cold keg beer, as I'd anticipated. Service in this place was clearly very stretched, with a severe shortage of staff. Those that were there were very accommodating. But we witnessed a number of customers come and go without being served due to the lengthy delays. The entrance from the hotel into the bar leads into a nice area overlooking the coast. Beyond that is a darker area with much more seating. There was also a popular covered area outdoors, jutting into the car park. A little disappointing. It would certainly benefit from a real ale or two.

Visited again yesterday lunchtime. Five hand pulls, all on, all offering Sonnet 43 beers. Pricing was between £3.88 and £4.58 a pint. On the keg taps were two Sonnet 43 beers plus Beavertown Neck Oil. On this visit I discovered that Poetic License has its own toilets towards past the bar, so I needn't have unwittingly ventured into the lobby of the Roker Hotel on my previous visit. Nice beer and I'm sure I will pay another visit at some point.

Visited last week, early afternoon. There were two Sonnet 43 ales on cask plus Double Maxim, and a couple of blank pumps if memory serves me correctly. There were a couple of keg options too, though I didn't pay much attention to those. It's a nice modern feeling place, bare brick feature walls, a big bar area. As the previous reviewer has noted, it appears to be attached to the Roker Hotel - something I only discovered on nipping to the loo and finding myself in the hotel lobby to get to the gents. I didn't make a note of the prices but my Newton's Lowdown (Tafelbier) by Sonnet 43 was a decent beer in good nick. I noticed they also had on The Raven Bourbon Milk Stout which I have had before and found to be very enjoyable. I'd happily visit again.