Number Twenty 2, Darlington

Visited here earlier in the week. It had only been open for half an hour at most and there were already a few customers in by the time I arrived. There are 16 hand pulls in total but several of these are duplicated in a seemingly random fashion, which due to the spread of the pumps makes it a bit difficult to take them all in and make a decision. I did notice later there is a chalk board at one end of the bar listing the available beers. Some beers were mainstream nationals, others were more local. A real cider was also available (on the separate bank of four hand pulls at the far end of the bar near the toilets). I suspect this hasn't always been a pub, and despite the presence of pub like fixtures and fittings that have presumably been reclaimed from elsewhere, it has more of a wine bar vibe with its plinky plonky piano music. This is clearly Darlington's sophisticated real ale venue. My White Boar by Village Brewer was OK, and set me back £1.60 for a half, so the prices are reasonable. The presence of other customers gave this place a bit of atmosphere. I'd probably return here.

A laid-back bar on the edge of town which acts as the brewery tap for the Village Brewery, but has other interesting beers on the 10 handpumps. A nice comfortable feel to the place and will be happy to return

Very good pub with a fine selection of ales and ciders. Muted background music. Definitely worth a revisit.

This is a long narrow room that is clearly a shop conversion with the bar on the right. It was quite busy on my Saturday afternoon visit and it was difficult to see how many hand pumps there were let alone the beers that were on. I did spot two mainstream beers Adnam's Bitter, Jenning's Cocker Hoot and three Village Brewery beers which are a bit of a fraud as noted below since they are brewed under contract at Hambleton. I found one called Leamside American Pale Ale which I went for but was well overpriced at £3.50. It was a good pint in excellent condition. I didn't really take to this place as it seemed rather trendy and was expensive but would almost certainly return for the beer choice alone.