BOB TROLLOP. OR IS IT ?

July 2026. Newcastle.

Mrs RM’s sporting injury (pics only available to Patronised readers) precluding a return to the Cask Camino, I set off alone in search of blog material.

You can get a return to Newcastle for £33 from Sheffield, and outside the heady stag/hen weekends the Toon has bargain central rooms, as you can see from the August rates for my bargain (if windowless) easyHotel.

Leaving the laptop (and even heavier charging lead) at home lightens the load, and frees up space for vital additions.

Mrs RM is planning a male version of her travel packing list which should be fun.

However many times I cross the Tyne, I still have to take the signature shot of the bridges, a view as iconic as London from Blackfriars Bridge.

Newcastle is quiet this Monday afternoon; I guess that’s why you can have a room next to the Crown Posada for £40.

Loads for the tourists from the Amsterdam or Alnwick to gawp at, though.

One of the great city centres anywhere, compact but hilly,

cultured but pubby. I named Tyne & Wear my top GBG county and that still holds. I think.

Only two new Beer Guide entries for me in GBG26. One at the coast, and one about as a central as it gets,

between the castle and Tyne Bridge.

I feel I’ve walked this route past Betty Surtees House a thousand times,

so quite how I’ve never been in the Redhouse is a mystery.

It seems to be connected, virtually contiguous in fact, with Bob Trollop and the Sandhill. 3 pubs in a row, how unusual is that ?

and at the bar, the barmaid patiently explains, as if to a 61 year old child, that it’s all part of the Redhouse, three pubs connected by an ancient connecting passage along the back.

Why haven’t I heard about this gem before ?

I pick the house Wylam Gold,

beautifully presented if not at its crispest (GOOD).

I realise there’s so little seating in the bar I’ll have to head to the back rooms,

and feel both impressed but a bit isolated. A bit like that Monks Walk in Beverley if it’s too quiet.

So I walk around the corridor for a while, looking suspicious,

knowing, just knowing, that it’ll be the Sandhill in the Beer Guide next year.

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Published by retiredmartin

Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.

6 thoughts on “BOB TROLLOP. OR IS IT ?”

  1. I have no wish to intrude on Mrs RM’s private hell but I hope she’s better soon.
    I look forward to her travel packing guide for blokes. I have a travel bag which Mrs B made out of a pair of my old cords, which I would never have worn again (not as svelte as I used to be) My technique is to chuck a few random things in there and hope for the best.

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    1. I do understand that only patronized readers get the pictures. I think we all deserve some hint at the severity of the injury though. For example, is it better or worse than the knee injury BRAPA doesn’t like to mention?

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    2. I reckon Mrs RM’s private hell is doing her ankle in on the first day of a trip to an ex Soviet Republic ensuring she has to swelter in a non air conditioned hotel for days whilst Martin gets to plough uphill to visit multiple Orthodox cathedrals.

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  2. I take it that you weren’t at the Vermont, Martin?

    If you were, then you could have got one of the rooms next to the railway lines, like Jake’s in the Blues Brothers. And paid a lot for it.

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