Moorcock Inn, Barnard Castle

Blue Scrumpy left this review about Moorcock Inn

With the Three Tuns Inn now closed, the Moorcroft Inn is the only remaining pub in the village of Eggleston.

We initially arrived shortly before 1pm. CAMRA publish an 11am opening time on a Saturday. The only other opening time I could find was midday on Google and TripAdvisor. Of course, we arrived to find it still shut. A staff member in the car park told us they were open from 2pm. If only they could put this on their Facebook page, instead of promoting the food and various events!

We returned in the early evening and ended up being quite disappointed. The pub has a couple of rooms - a bar and dining room. We arrived to find the dining room quite busy and the bar empty with the exception of one other customer. However, the bar soon filled up during our visit.

Both rooms are carpeted. The bar is quite small and a pool table takes up most of the space, being slap bang in the centre of the room and a dartboard in one corner. With demand for both at the same time, the room gets quite cramped very quickly. There was a TV (switched off) high up in one corner and some kind of device playing music near the entrance. Flags of each of the Six Nations were on the ceiling.

The dining room seemed much more cosy and welcoming but all tables were made out for diners or occupied. The pub's 2 handpulls are also located in the dining room. Both were unclipped. This left a keg selection of Fosters, John Smith's, Cruzcampo, Moretti, Guinness & Inch's.

The nearby moors are quite spectacular but we found the pub to be a disappointment, especially when having to return a second time after finding them unexpectedly closed.

On 7^th June 2026 - rating: 4
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