Chesters, Millfield, Sunderland

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Located a good 10-15 minute walk from the city centre, in what appears to be a very student friendly part of town, this is a large Stonegate pub which had drawn a varied clientele on my Saturday lunchtime visit. You enter into a spacious main room running down the left hand side of the building. The servery runs along the right hand wall of this section and has a dark wood counter and a part-tiled, part-wallpapered bar back. The room has a mix of exposed floorboards, carpeting and parquet flooring and gives the impression of having previously been sub-divided into a number of much smaller spaces, with various pillars and structural supports still in-situ. Décor throughout is fairly corporate in tone, with soft shades of paint and fancy modern wallpaper used to liberal effect. Mirrors and framed pictures fill up some wall space but promotional blackboards seem to be everywhere, telling you nothing that you can’t figure out by looking at the menu or taking a walk to the bar. A few old fireplaces are evident, scattered through the pub – one for each former room I suppose – but none seem to get much use. To the rear left is a raised area with bookcase wallpaper which has been labelled ‘The Library’. Meanwhile, to the rear right there is a cosy space with dark wood fixtures, a brick fireplace and some leaf-patterned wallpaper, this time signed ‘The Sterling Room’ and in use for a private party on my visit. Turning left upon entering, you will find another sizable seating area and something signposted ‘The Snug’, which appeared to direct you to a dark space behind the bar, which I failed to explore. Seating throughout is predominantly standard chairs, with a few padded benches around the perimeter and limited lounge furnishings. Multiple TV screens were showing muted live football coverage and I enjoyed a decent pie and chips from the cheap menu.
Stonegate pubs can be a bit hit and miss when it comes to ale quality and selection, but this one ranks pretty highly, with a clear commitment to providing a good range of local ales. Options on this visit were Wylam Collingwood Pale, Maxim Double Maxim, Tyne Bank Silver Dollar, Taylor Landlord and Adnams Broadside, with a further Tyne Bank ale due to come on later in the day. A standard keg range was supplemented by three unlabelled ‘craft’ keg taps, but despite the plethora of informative blackboards, I couldn’t find the one telling me what these mystery beers might be. I had a pint of the Collingwood Pale and the helpful barman did a few calculations on my part to figure out which meal deal would get me the cheapest price for my pie and pint.
I didn’t really warm too much to this pub, which seems to have lost its identity a bit under a barrage or corporate blandness, but I did very much enjoy the food and drink I received here and I was glad I made the effort to strike out to this part of town. A bit of an all rounder this one and if I was a student living nearby, I imagine I’d spend plenty of time in here.

On 16^th February 2016 - rating: 7
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