The Hotspur, Newcastle Upon Tyne

A pretty good pub well described below. Friendly service and equally friendly locals. A few beers on including Cullercoats Jack The Devil and Tynebank West Coast IPA. Both were fine. Glad to have called in.

Opposite Haymarket bus station. L-shaped interior with a poor use of space - few seats and most of the floor area by the bar is empty space. Would have been multi-roomed years ago and following the joist is an old - if not particularly attractive - coloured and embossed wallpaper strip. There is also some etched glass to the left in nicely carved dark wood insets. A big screen above the bar showing cricket whilst my ears were assaulted by dreadful chart music blarting out in conjunction. Seven pumps with six ales on, almost all local. My Jarrow Red Ellen was OK but lacked condition (one of a number that day). It all felt a bit perfunctory in here and I wouldn't be doing it next time.

A big single roomed pub done out in victorian style with bench seating and Britannias mixed in with a few high tables and chairs plus a fair few mirrors and machines. The six beers on offer were a mix of the local and the national, two pulls are also given over to draught cider, the usual national brands were also in evidence. Not bad as part of a Percy Street crawl before heading up to the Trent House.