The Causeway, Hartlepool

Just round the corner from the brewery and having two closed pubs pushing me this way I popped in although it was the most expendable on my list. A former Cameron’s pub, naturally, now under the tender care of Marstons it still sells Strongarm along with some Marstons stuff on the six pulls. Quite an in spoiled interior especially in the multi room layout, I used the front bar, right on entering, long and thin with an old counter, I was attracted by the Cameron’s etched door. The far end here has a pool room more seating and the facilities in an obvious extension, small brass enigmatic figures denote male and female labs. I’ve never heard of, never mind seen “banked” Strongarm but I had it here, a bit thin but oddly drinkable, weird place Hartlepool.

Visited this pub last month and selected Marston's Mansfield Cask ale and Cameron's Strongarm, both of which were fine.

Local's pub with bar to the right as you come in. Extends further to the right where there is a pool table. Three weak real ales on offer.

Multiroomed back street pub near Camerons Brewery but still tied to Marstons, selling Banks Bitter & also a guest of Camerons Strongarm. Its nicely opened up but still with separate areas. Bit of a locals feel but its nice enough inside to get over that.

This is a large multiple roomed pub, just off of Stranton and very close to the Cameron’s Brewery. On approaching the pub, I initially thought the place was shut, as the entire right hand side of the building was in darkness with no sign of life. Thankfully, I walked on a little further and found that this was seemingly an extension to the original pub, now used as a live music room, and that the original red brick pub was, mercifully, open. You enter into a corridor with a hatch to the bar on the right hand side. The corridor has two rooms off it to the left, one of which was a smart looking lounge with banquette seating whilst the other was an unlit room towards the rear of the building. Both of these rooms were empty on my visit, so I turned right into the main bar. This is a typical public bar, with wooden floors and etched glass windows bearing the Banks’ Brewery logo. The servery squeezes the left hand side of the room into a narrow strip with enough space for some bar stools, but not much else. Beyond the servery, the room opens out a bit and there are four tables with a mix of standard chairs, pews and high backed benches. The mirrored bar back is decorated with pump clips and whisky boxes, with both collections starting to spread further around the room. A curtain on the right hand wall leads into the aforementioned music room and plenty of live music was being promoted, with gigs lined up for five of the next seven days. My visit coincided with one of the two days without any live entertainment, so punters had to make do with a TV screen near the bar which was tuned to Radio 2. As a Marston’s house, the beer choice was Banks’ Bitter, Wychwood Skinflint and Jennings Cockle Warmer, plus local favourite Cameron’s Strongarm. Having never tried the latter before, I decided to give it a try and was rather surprised to find myself in possession of a pint with two inches of frothy head above the rim of the glass. The pint was in good condition but not really to my taste. It was a shame not to be able to fully explore this pub, although fully understandable on a quiet Tuesday night. There was a nice atmosphere created by a good group of locals and it felt like somewhere you could relax over several pints. Worth a look, especially if you’re visiting the nearby Brewery Tap.