Occupying a prime position on the river, The Quayside is (literally) a warehouse of a pub.

The Venue
The Quayside is part of the Lloyd's No 1 bar chain (owned by Wetherspoons). Like most of their pubs it looks like a converted warehouse, but this really is a converted warehouse and it's always busy, but even more so in the summer when it’s hard to find a free seat on its large stone patio out the front. Added to that is the extensive terrace out the ‘back’ — although here the exits and entrances are interchangeable.

Inside, there’s a long bar down the side of the building and two smartly presented rooms with patterned blue and yellow carpets. There are rectangular lamps in the cream ceiling and blue and dark pink material covers the chairs. Upstairs is a very pleasant attic room with high peaked beamed ceiling, more blue chairs and its fantastic views of the river.

The People
The Quayside is right next to the Sea nightclub, so at the weekend it's full of revellers getting tanked up on cheap booze before hitting the club. Surprisingly, there’s never any trouble here in contrast to Bigg Market where it seems to be a quaint local tradition.

The Food and Drink
Guinness, Pedigree, Carling, Foster’s and Old Rosie cider are all on tap, as well as ales such as Spring Thing (Wylam), Allendale Best Bitter and Mordue’s Radgie Gadgie. In bottles there’s San Miguel, Corona, Newkie Brown and Coors Light.

There are half a dozen bottles of red and white wine each, ranging in price from as little as £6.99 to £12.99 for a Chateauneuf-du-Pape. There are wraps, panini and baguettes for a lighter lunch, alongside jacket potatoes and salads. A gourmet burger is a rather oddly priced £6.09 (you can bet they’re counting on keeping that 1p), or you can get your basic one for a £4.49 with a free beer/drink thrown in. A five-bean chilli with tortilla chips is £5.59 and a rack of pork ribs with chips is £7.49. To finish have a Bramley apple pie for £2.39.

The Last Word
Perfect for sitting outside on a summer’s evening with a beer in your hand, just be careful coming out of the back exit after a couple of shandies as the cars whip round the corner at a rate of knots.

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