Foresters Arms, Darlington

The Foresters Arms is a country pub that sits on the A167, but very close to its junction with the A1(M). It was very quiet on my late Thursday evening visit, despite quite a few cars on the car park. Inside, there were just the landlady, landlord and one other couple in the bar/lounge area, with a games room, containing a pool table and a jukebox, in darkness. The couple soon departed leaving just me, until another guy (possibly a family member or close friend of the owners) arrived. Nation Radio was playing in the background from a DAB Radio on a table next to the bar. The decor is brown and white with carpet, apart from an area of laminate flooring around the bar. There are pictures of birds and animals scattered around. Wifi is available, with the password on the bar. The solitary cask ale was Rudgate Battleaxe, but I was more interested in seeing if they were still stocking a local cider from Kemps. In fact, they had 2 of their ciders - a 6.4% 2022 Vintage and a 6.8% Special Reserve. I tried them both and found them very enjoyable. Both the ale and the ciders were £3.70 per pint or £1.90 for a half. Keg beers included Sharp's Atlantic, Theakston Pale & Caffrey's. The keg cider was Sharp's Cold River. In addition, bottles of real ales priced at £3.60 were also being promoted - Double Maxim, Ghost Ship, Fursty Ferret, Proper Job & Old Peculier. This was my final pub of 27 across Cumbria and County Durham on a 2-day trip and I remarked to the landlady, landlord and the other guy on leaving that these were the first 2 new ciders I'd seen across any of those pubs. The atmosphere was lacking here (I overheard the landlady say that Thursday evening was always quiet for some reason), but it was really good to see a couple of local ciders being promoted.