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Hi
After my Sunderland post. It seems Durham has won.
We’re looking for nice pubs with good beer selection and good pub food please.
Also happy to wander round so any tips for things to see would also be nice.
Basically looking to kill an afternoon chilling and drinking good stuff.
Thanks in advance.
Go up to Wharton Park by the train station & admire the view....
& don't forget to get closer to the cathedral! If the towers open to the public It's only 365 steps to the top & the views are terrific.
It's a long time since I had a night out in my home city, so I can't recommend any pubs, soz.
Lovely stuff. That looks great. Thank you.
My home town so eat out couple of times each year when I go back to visit.
Almost always here as my folks like it. Ageing clientele but nice food and short taxi from city centre.
https://www.finbarrsrestaurant.co.uk
Used to eat at this chaps old restaurant and it was always a favourite.Apparently always packed, bit rowdy for my folks now they are getting on.
http://www.laspadaristorante.co.uk/
For a pub try the Dun Cow - was great 30 years ago when I last visited.
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g190832-d3475886-Reviews-The_Dun_Cow-Durham_County_Durham_England.html
A walk up to Palace Green and the cathedral is a must. There are some nice paths for a stroll next to the river too.
The Victoria is probably the most characterful little pub and serves great beer. About 5 mins walk from the centre. If you're coming by train the new little bar at the station is actually worth having a pint in.
Have a Google for the Durham Real Ale Trail for other possible watering holes.
spend most of your time around the centre / on Palace Green and go into the cathedral as a must. Possibly castle too, but that's by tour only. And then around Saddler St, Silver St, Elvet Bridge and that area. There are a load of places to eat and drink from little independants through to the chains like Bills, etc.
Pubs with beer
right in the centre: Shakespeare, Half Moon, Swan and Three, Market Tavern
a bit further out; Dun Cow, Court, Victoria (all are <5 mins from the cathedral)
Of these I'd say the Shakey as it was my student pub for 3 years but is also a good locals pub too. I don't really like the beer in the Swan and Three (Sam Smiths) but others do. The Vic is a MUST DO even though it's the furthest out of this lot but there are so few pubs like it, it's almost a museum as well as having some of the best beer. A MUST DO
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Victoria,_Durham
I also like the Dun Cow, very cosy. The Half Moon is a bigger pub, very busy with locals on Fri / Sat getting warmed up before a big neet oot, but welcoming nonetheless.
Pubs with food - not so many TBH in the very centre, it's a old style drinking town but then the city isn't that big so even the ones outside the very centre are really close. Court does reasonable if slightly chain grub, The Head of Steam on North Road does good pizza apparently (so a Uni mate who never left tells me) and also have an interesting mix of more exotic beers.
If you're on the train then I'd also consider taking in the Station House under the viaduct, community micropub with beers direct from the barrel.
I love Durham me. Well jel, I'm not there for another few months.
The Victoria Inn - that takes me back a few years. I'm sure the driving test centre was next door. Always used to meet up there with mates when we went home. You can do it and the Dun Cow with short walk. Just have to add the prison officers pub - can't remember its name and that was my night out in 1985.
Fantastic. Looking forward to it.
Cheers.
That's the Court.
Vic-Court-Dun Cow is a dead easy threesome, 2 mins walk from one to the other
If you're not wedded to the idea of pub food then I would recommend Zen for lunch. It's Asian food and is consistently good.
Plus it's handy for several of the better boozers, Victoria, Court Inn, Dun Cow.
As someone else has said, there isn't really a pub that does great food. At a push I'd go for the Court Inn but it's not amazing.
Nice one. We love Asian food. Great tip.
If you like real ale and an open fire, try the Vic on Hallgarth street (tbh I'd recommend it whatever you like as the bar is old stylee small rooms and hasn't been spoiled by being badly modernised). Dun Cow is also good. The Garden House pub is ok for food and not far from Wharton park mentioned above. Other restaurants: Lebaneat for Lebanese and Zen (Thai).
Lots of posts crossing but we all agree that if you don't go to the Vic then you aren't our mate any more.
Still doing bash a student nights down in Durham?
What’s Head of Steam like?
it was never that bad (1987-1990) - some pubs (Market Tav, Fighting Cocks, North St) were best avoided particularly at weekends, but otherwise OK
Head of Steam - not bad, more esoteric beer selection than most pubs which are more traditional (but still good) real ale selections.
Depends if you want some traditional 80/- or a heavily hopped IPA
http://www.theheadofsteam.co.uk/drinks?pub=5
Yeah don’t mind an IPA. Are there any other craft ale type pubs worth looking at please?
Ah. The Dun Cow challenge - that takes me back (1997 - 2000)
Studied and worked at the Uni for 13 years. A pint of Big Lamp in the Vic was indeed a staple. Zen good for lunch and 2 min walk away. Food options aren’t great (it’s wonderful living in Leeds now!) (better on the cafe front, than proper meals - a lot of chains). Favourite cafes being Flat White (their kitchen is decent too) and Leonard’s. Walk along the river banks - one of my favourite things to do when I go back for meetings.
Re craft beer, best bet really is Head of Steam (that was so exciting when it opened!). Station House is a short walk from there - basic inside but brew their own beer which is decent.
I absolutely love Durham, but I was born and raised there so I’m completely biased.
Nice walk along the river bank, non boozy lunch at Crook hall ( nr the radisson) or Saddlers yard (up the Vennell next to Waterstones)
Apparently food at the garden house pub is good at the moment (mile or so from centre).
Vic and Shakespeare personal fave traditional pubs
Quirky shopping at mugwump up towards cathedral
When are you going?
All the above advice is good. I jokingly call it a Pit Village with a big Church. It’s so much more than that. A really good place to go out.
Hotel indigo is one of the buildings I used to work in, when it was the Uni’s admin building (the Old Shire Hall). Restaurant/bar in there is meant to be awesome. Though my wife and I love Zen.
Station House under the railway bridge is superb as a real ale destination. A little hipstery but not stuck up. Opening times are quirky.
Plenty in Durham to kill an afternoon.
Palace Green and the Cathedral. Also Durham Castle (guided tour only).
Have a walk round the bend in the river from Framwellgate Bridge to Elvet Bridge.
If you like Gin then try Tin of Sardines Gin Bar, the smallest bar in Durham, and also Old Toms Gin Bar.
For food the Thai River and Inshanghai are good. Also the Riverview Kitchen.
Walk up North Road for a kebab and a fight. Then hang around outside the prison with the families of convicts.
No need to do that; leave something to look forward to in Sunderland.
Along with the blue drink and chicken dippers.
is Klute still going?
Get yourself to the Colpits on Hawthorn Terrace for a proper drink.
Everyone on here seems to be describing a different place from what I knew in the 80's. It had one of the highest levels of street violence in the Country then.
Durham bus station on a weekend night was a really bad and dangerous place.
Sounds like it's changed.
Nice one. Thanks looks like the Vic and Zen are top of the list. We’re off on Friday so hopefully a nice crisp North East day. 😎
They'll have the fire on in the Vic. You might end up staying all day......
Worth booking at Zen, usually pretty busy on a lunchtime, especially on Fridays.
Ah. The Dun Cow challenge – that takes me back (1997 – 2000)
That would have made us, gulp, contemporaries (1996-1999 here). If I did meet you in those overlapping two years then 'hi', and I hope I wasn't being too much of a muppet at the time.....although given the combination of tender years, lack of parental supervision and cheap beer, I wouldn't like to wager on it!
Youngsters....I was 10 years earlier.
Are either of you ex-Castle? I'll see your Dun Cow and raise you a Lumley Run club membership here.
Are either of you ex-Castle?
Cuth's here - I know all the colleges are good, but we had the best bar - must be true otherwise you lot wouldn't have always been in there.............!
So where are you OP...... I love Durham, and I'm all eager to find out what you think?
we had the best bar – must be true otherwise you lot wouldn’t have always been in there………….!
you must have had it done up, 'cos it wasn't anything special in the late 80's.
Undercroft was the only place to be - or Mary's because of their video jukebox. And Mary's girls 😉
Are either of you ex-Castle
Current Castle (SCR). I mean come on, it's much better than the trash across the road 😜
Current Castle (SCR). I mean come on, it’s much better than the trash across the road 😜
I shall expect an invite next time I'm up!!
Just been to the Vic and Zen. Absolutely brilliant both of them. Had a lovely chilled afternoon. Thanks for the recommendations.
Nice.
I shall expect an invite next time I’m up!!
Consider it done! The main benefit of my SCR fees so far appears to be generally inept attempts to demonstrate to friends and family that I know something deep and meaningful about the carpets tapestries on the wall etc... (but at least the tour is free - you pays you money you make your choice)!
I was up in November for a reunion, and then about a year before that for a mates 50th with the family. I tried to get on a tour but Castle was 'shut' in prep for the JCR Ladies Night ball, so I emailed the college who said it was me to visit anyway and do my own tour for the wife and kids. I did quite a decent job if I say so myself, albeit focusing not so much on the 1080-1987 period and a bit more on the 'alternative' history of 1987-90.
I still can't believe it, every time I see the Castle, that I ate and drank there for three years and lived in it for one. Truly the best 3 years ever.
Agreed, the opportunity to live in a castle is a bit special!
The hill is better than the Bailey for colleges, although as a tourist a walk around the centre is always nice.
Collingwood 1998-2002