retiredmartin

July 2025. Newcastle upon Tyne.

Having sprinted back to Chillingham Road Metro after finishing Tyne & Wear to ensure I’d be back for that 21:15 train with 44 seconds to spare, I find LNER is, inevitably, running six minutes late.

Hey ! Six minutes ? What can you do in six minutes ? (no, not a VAR review).

I’m a Bodega girl

— Christine Andrew (@chrstndw) June 28, 2025

Last month I declared Bacchus a favourite on the Toon, and it took Christine from Barton to remind me of the charms of the Bodega.

So I stayed on till the end of the line to St James, and jogged round the Roman ruins alongside Chinatown.

Those stones above are all that’s left of the very first Chinese takeaway.

It was very quiet in the west end; it had been worryingly quiet in all the major cities in that first month after colleges broke up (except when Oasis were in town).

And there were only a handful of drinkers as the clock struck nine. OK, it’s Monday, and we read that Gen Z are in bed by now . There’s no football, anywhere. And no shows at the Tyne Theatre across the road.

But how can a pub this gorgeous, so ornate but cosy, be so empty ?

And what will it mean for beer quality ?

It means nothing. The terrific young barman talks trade and Fontaines DC and how good Ryan the cellarman is. Well, Ryan, your Two by Two is gorgeous, cool and chewy (NBSS 4).

And that Christine Andrew is right.