Blonde Barrel, Newcastle Upon Tyne

Called in here as the local CAMRA mag said that it now had real ale. It was a Monday afternoon and the place was dead as a post. It looks a bit like a JDW or a Goose in that it's huge and has cheap food menus on all the tables. They did indeed have some real ale. The barman, who turned out to be the manager managed to pull about half a pint before it stopped pulling through. It's OK he said I'll just check what's happened in the cellar. He gave Ms CAMRA her glass of red wine and disappeared for a good 5 minutes. When he came back he finished pulling the pint and promptly went away again. What had happened in the cellar was that a perfectly good barrel of ale had been left to rot and had turned into vinegar. The brown sludge I had been poured was obviously off. I then had to go and find the idiot who was putting up Xmas decorations. "It was OK last night and there's at least half a barrel left" quoth idiot. Seems unlikely to me I said. I'll have a pint of Amstel instead please. This is probably the worst run pub I have been in all year. It gets the inevitable score of 1.