These are reviews of meals served in Public Houses in the Tyneside region, or any other place I may find myself, or contributors have visited.
The British Public House owes its origin to the church in the middle ages, as friars would set up hostelries to give rest and sustenance to the weary traveller and his beasts. These hostelries became the inns, which in due course became the British Pub. To follow the story up to date, a lot of these pubs are becoming a theme bar in the hands of big business.
Any hue, the British Pub is more than a den of drunken debauchery, as some would have us believe. They are a vital part of the community, especially in the rural areas, where they became areas for the local notice board, the local post office and in someplaces the meeting place for the local mountain rescue / potholing rescue teams. They also became venues for such pastimes as darts and dominoes, and pub quizzes, where pub would compete against pub in some league. Some pubs have now installed Karaoke machine and wide screen satellite televisions to show important sporting events.
In this day of theme restaurants, e.g. Italian, Indian, Chinese, Mexican, or fast food outlets such as KFC, Burger King, etc., the only place to get traditional British cuisine, as far as I can make out, is the British Pub. Not every pub will serve food, and some seem to range from sandwiches only, through pies only to several course meals. The attraction of pub meals, is not just the food, but the ambience of the place. There is the informality you do not find in a standard restaurant, and the comely and relaxed atmosphere you do not find in a fast food restaurant.
These reviews are based on personal visits to the establishments mentioned, and what was actually experienced. It is possible that a review can be done on an off day. Every effort has been taken to be as fair as possible. When the editor does a review notes are taken on site to make sure that the reviews are accurate and fair, and general feelings are also recorded on site with a micro-cassette machine.
Reviews submitted, are published in good faith and a set of guidelines are posted for would be contributors.
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