The Head of Steam, Durham

Up an alley off the main drag and past a few independent shops is café seating with background music from the Head of Steam that sits behind. Inside are seating areas to the left and right either side of the central bar area where a serving counter across the rear wall supports premium and mainstream craft keg alongside four hand pumps, three of which were in use drawing Rudgate’s Chocolate Stout, Head of Steam Gold and Old Peculiar. It was smaller in here than I was expecting, although I didn’t get to have a look upstairs due to it being closed for a charity quiz. The service was friendly and the young customers were generating a good atmosphere, but there are better pubs in the immediate area, so I doubt I’ll ever return.

Probably the best of this chain I have been to, partly because of its off-street location with outdoor seating in a partly covered yard, partly because it's only 1pm and fairly quiet. My half of the house beer from Camerons was ok but not brilliant, and not cheap either (NBSS 3,£5/pint). Better than "pleasant enough".

I was somehow expecting this pub to be much busier on my Saturday evening visit. Whilst there were no tables on the ground floor, there were plenty spare upstairs. The ale selection was good and they also offer 3 real ciders. Ales were Cameron's Road Crew, Bad Company Easy Now, Ridgeside Io & Rooster's Baby Faced Assassin & London Thunder. All ciders were from Lilley's - Rhubarb Cider, Apples & Pears & Somerset Scrumpy. I went for the London Thunder, a porter, which was slightly past its best. I do however enjoy my visits to pubs in the Head of Steam chain. They always offer a good selection of beers, whether it be cask, keg, bottle or cans. This one was no exception.

Up an alley off North Road, it's a two story building looking a little Swiss. Downstairs contains an L shaped room round two sides of a courtyard. A mix of standard tables and chairs plus more bizarre and uncomfortable choices to rest at. The long counter along the back wall has five pulls, with local and regional beers and two horseshoes of kegs. Slightly engineering feel to the decor, other parts of the decor are beer ads and it’s got a pinball table. Not bad but not my first choice in Durham.