Fluid Bar and Kitchen

Fluid Bar and Kitchen is an American diner sports pub that gets rammed on match days.

The Venue
From the outside Fluid looks like a sprawling modern bar. It sits inside a red brick building with large windows and it's fairly easy to spot as it has a bold chrome sign printed over the door. Indoors, it has a tiled floor and screens everywhere as well as dark wood booths and banquettes.

The windows have wooden blinds on them, which always seems to lend a place a bit of class. The long wooden bar is shiny and polished, and there’s a rack at the end with today’s papers in. There are pictures of sporting heroes on the walls as well as strings of fairy lights.

Upstairs is another open-plan space with its own bar and funky cylindrical lamps, high stools lining the windows and a slatted wood ceiling. Glass cabinets show off bottles of drinks and tree ‘branches’ grow out of one corner. The best spot is the raised area opposite the bar which is quite snug and which looks out on to the back of St Andrew’s Church, the oldest one in Newcastle.

The People
There’s a lunchtime rush which keeps the staff on their toes, but it’s relatively quiet in the week. Punters run from groups of older women and young out-of-shape girls to guys with receding hairlines and old chaps withnicotine-stained fingers. Being so close to St James’ Park, both floors get totally rammed on match days.

The Food and Drink
Carling, Woodpecker, Guinness, Heineken, Fosters and Tetley’s are on draught, alongside the excellent foamy and creamy Thwaite’s Smooth. Meanwhile, Stella, Peroni, Corona, Budweiser, Newcastle, Beck’s, Bulmers, Jacques and Magner’s are all in bottles. Cocktails are a pathetic £2.85 each and there are about 10, including Chi Chi which is Absolut vodka, Malibu and pineapple juice.

Shooters are £2 each and a Jager Bomb (Jagermeister and Red Bull) is £2.50 and will keep you going all night. There are five whites, five reds and one rose, all for about £8.25 to £9.25 a bottle.

The food runs from sandwiches and salads to jacket potatoes and grills. A ham salad sarnie is £2.95 and doorstep toasties are about £2.95. The recommended Mexican wrap is indeed good with its soft folds concealing juicy pieces of grilled chicken breast and the intense heat of jalapeno peppers. It comes with chips and salad and hits the spot. Otherwise, grilled spring lamb grill is £7.95 and a chicken balti is £4.95.

The Last Word
Not the sort of place to bring your first date, but if you want to stuff your face with some cheap food, swill lager and watch sport, then hey, look no further.

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