User name:

Password:

Login


Sign in with Facebook


Not already a member?
Join our community and - Rate & review pubs - Upload pictures - Add events JOIN for free NOW


Chat about:
Cambridge PuG Crawl, Friday 5th April 2024 with Gann on the Pub Forum

The Bridge Tavern, Newcastle Upon Tyne

7 Akenside Hill
Newcastle Upon Tyne
NE1 3UF
Phone: 01912619966

Return to pub summary

Reviews (Current Rating Average: of 10) Add Review see review guidelines


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Blue Scrumpy left this review about The Bridge Tavern

Situated on a street corner in the Quayside area of Newcastle, the Bridge Tavern is still a really good place to head to if in this area.

There are bars on both the ground and first floors. Since my last visit in 2017, the real ale range has reduced slightly from 7 to 6 and they no longer stock a real cider. Nevertheless, the range is still varied - Triple Point Dusk, Twisted Wheel Speed Wobble, Siren Memento, Pentrich Highly Evolved, Brew York Viking DNA & Bristol Beer Factory Diamond Lake.

Popular with a slightly more trendy crowd than most Newcastle pubs, this is still one of the city's best.

On 11th February 2022 - rating: 7
[User has posted 2442 recommendations about 2441 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Brainy Pool left this review about The Bridge Tavern

I did call in here, noted the excellent range of ales, but also noted that every table was taken on a Friday afternoon, mostly with diners. it had a modernised single room interior and seemed popular with young groups. There was a strong smell of cooked food. it’s clearly doing something right but i don’t think i would bother again.

On 13th March 2020 - no rating submitted
[User has posted 1051 recommendations about 1016 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


custodian 42 left this review about The Bridge Tavern

A decent selection of ales. We got talking to a local who said that this pub used to be the roughest one in Newcastle. Not being local ourselves we had no way of verifying this, but it certainly is worth a revisit as it stands.

On 4th December 2016 - rating: 7
[User has posted 1693 recommendations about 1691 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Pub SignMan left this review about The Bridge Tavern

This pub was rebuilt in the 1920's so that it might fit snugly beneath the Northern approach of the Tyne Bridge, making it arguably one of the city's most distinctive pubs. Having said this, I still had to look twice on approach, as the pub is very clearly signed as the Newcastle Arms - a long since defunct former name. The pub was doing a roaring trade on my late Saturday evening visit, with virtually no room to move , making exploration particularly tricky. You enter into a large open space with the servery immediately to your left. The bar has a pewter counter and bare brick bar back, whilst the room boasts some nice parquet flooring studded with numerous metal girders. Some high tables and stools have been positioned opposite the bar under a particularly bright spotlight. Elsewhere, banquette and standard seating runs along the bare brick walls to the rear and right, where some impressive bookshelves stand, acting as a good focal point for the room. Some modern partitioning has been set up to the rear and a number of benches can be found here, with equipment for the small on-site brewery visible further back. One centrally positioned pillar had a series of amusing Geordie themed cartoons stuck to it, but elsewhere the décor is fairly restrained, with exposed brickwork being the key ingredient. Given the large crowd and the hubbub they were creating, the music had been turned up to a pretty high level, although I suspect a Saturday evening doesn't really represent the average visit to this pub.
Deciphering the beer range in the crush at the bar was all but impossible, but I'll give it a go. I definitely saw Wylam Tavern Ale and Tachless, Allendale Malt Porter (very good), Pig and Porter Coffee Stout and Errant Ahab. Less certainly, I noted Magic Rock Common Grounds and something from Cloudwater and my notes also include the mysterious word 'Quilliam', which may relate to another beer that was on. Either way, it's a pretty decent selection, although sadly none of their own beers were on as far as I could make out. One real cider was also on and there was a good craft keg range as well.
I think the timing of my visit was unfortunate, as I was unable to get a good feel for the place in the crush of the crowd. I enjoyed a very well kept pint and appreciated the buzzy atmosphere, but it would be nice to return at a time when I might be able to relax over my pint and fully take the place in. It seems a popular destination for anyone wanting good beer and a return will certainly not be a chore.

On 13th May 2016 - rating: 7
[User has posted 3102 recommendations about 3102 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Malden man left this review about The Bridge Tavern

Directly under the iconic Tyne Bridge, this pub almost looks like the bridge supports are cuddling it. I remember this place as The Newcastle Arms from my student days up here, the old signage remains and thankfully the exterior brickwork and friezes have been expertly restored following the pub's rather dismal phase of being called "Fever".
It is a proper pub once again, a brew pub too with the vessels on full view at the back of the room. An industrial interior look which suits the brewing operation, exposed services, no ceiling with the timbers on view, lots of unplastered brickwork. Parquet floor, a corner has a "library" of bookshelves with an L of regular seats beneath. Otherwise there are a couple of long high tables in the middle of what is a big space plus a pair of booth areas in the front windows. Some stained glass upper windows remain. There is another area upstairs I understand but I didn't see it.
No less than ten handpumps, one of their own house brews on, Cascade, which was a fine drop, Tavernale, brewed specifically for the pub by Wylam plus Cryptic Ales Anagram, Wylam Jakehead Embryo, Salopian Bulletproof, Rooster's The Beeching Axe, Apostles Trach, Hackney Brewery H, Bad Seed Brewery Dana Pale Ale plus a cider, Haymaker.
Another now essential Quayside venue, I liked it here very much and enjoyed a good chat with a like minded beer drinker at the bar.

On 6th June 2015 - rating: 8
[User has posted 1707 recommendations about 1681 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Real Ale Ray left this review about The Bridge Tavern

Nine ales and one cider on handpump on our afternoon visit. None of their own brewed beer to be seen, apart from the brewing equip at the rear. The young trendy barmaid told me it would be on later in the day. So I made the effort to go back later that eve and still didn't get to taste any of their beers. They had a Tavernale on handpump, which was brewed by Wylam. The bar staff were also unknowledgeable when a customer asked what an 'APA' was and I had to explain that it was an American Pale Ale.
I went for the First Chop Arm Cha, which was ok, but well overpriced. The pub also had a pretty neat lounge upstairs with bar and sun terrace. To me, this is not really a pub where you call in on your tod and have a chat with the bar staff or other drinkers at the bar. I much prefer the Crown Posada, around the corner.

On 19th March 2015 - rating: 7
[User has posted 3376 recommendations about 3376 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


ROB Camra left this review about The Bridge Tavern

Situated directly under the Tyne Bridge this is now a stripped back micro brewery pub. There are lots of high tables and chairs along with a couple of booths. The main room is very industrial in design (think BrewDog) and is also very popular judging by our Sunday afternoon visit. 10 handpumps on the main bar, although a couple weren't badged. The two beers I tried were in good nick. It's definitely a place that will be added to our Quayside pub crawl in future.

On 15th May 2014 - rating: 8
[User has posted 3216 recommendations about 3127 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Bridge Tavern

Curiously positioned in the shadow of the iconic Tyne Bridge, the former Newcastle Arms (as the façade proclaims) has been reincarnated as a brew pub. Bare brick walls and shiny vent ducts. Decor includes a book wall plus the functional brewing vessels to the rear. Mix of plain furniture, and jazz-funk music at a sensible volume. Ten handpumps in the main bar, plus another six in the upstairs bar with its roof terrace. Small side ground-floor terrace for smokers. My pint of the 'house' Anamchara Stout (£3.20) was first class, and all-in-all I really enjoyed my initial visit.

On 9th March 2014 - rating: 9
[User has posted 8061 recommendations about 8061 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Old Boots left this review about Fever

Now called the Bridge Tavern and newly reopened with an on-site micro brewery, the large downstairs room has a stripped back industrial look with its exposed pipework and bare bricks. The floor is parquet and some of the walls are lined with bookcases, a home for books bought by the yard. Furnishing is fairly traditional with bench seating and Britannia tables. The counter has 10 hand pumps with local micros and the onsite product, the quality is excellent. Upstairs is a smaller bar with a further six pulls and tap stuff of course. There has been a pub here for 200 years but this one was built in 1925 as the Newcastle Arms as the outside confirms; the reason its predecessor was demolished? Well that's when they built the Tyne Bridge and the pub was in the way, this one sits between two huge iron stanchions that hold up the northern approach viaduct. Recommended as part of a three hander with the Crown Posada and the Redhouse.

On 27th November 2013 - no rating submitted
[User has posted 3209 recommendations about 2920 pubs]