please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
A real throwback to an earlier age.
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Colpitts Hotel is a wedge-shaped building on a street corner. It is a Sam Smiths pub and has their Old Brewery Bitter on handpull. The real draw here is the unadorned interior, which is a real throwback. The pub was fairly busy with a crowd that seemed to be mainly students and lecturers. The ale selection may be pretty ordinary. But it's worth going here to see how pubs used to be.
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I was a student at Hild Bede college in Durham, and used to go there to the poetry readings. A fantastic old fashioned pub. I met an old fellow from Durham in Clun youth hostel several years ago, and he said it hadn't changed in the 50 years he'd been going there. Lovely pint of Sam Smith's bitter.
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Ditto!
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I think this remains a family concern, regular staff with dry sense of humour. Sam Smiths beers at Sam Smiths prices, always exceptionally well kept and only £1.80 a pint for OB. A cracking pub, worth the trip out of the main town, about 10 minutes walk.
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A year since my last visit. Had get early bus home otherwise I'd of been legless with this superb pint of OB. Three good pints at £1-80 a pint.
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I'll wager very little has changed at this pub in over fifty years - and I mean this as a positive. If there was room at the bar and the roaring fire wasn't so overpowering on an unseasonably mild January night I would have stayed all night swapping unfeasible tales with the regulars. Instead I slotted on to an end seat and soaked in the relaxed, social atmosphere. Samuel Smiths is not a personal favourite, but at these prices and when kept in such good condition who could find any genuine cause for complaint? Served very nicely to by an attractive lass behind the bar just to complement a delightful mini session. Definitely worth the trek up and down the hilly back streets.
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As usual with Sam Smith pubs, the atmosphere is pleasant & the beer is about half the price of elsewhere in town at �1.54 per pint. The downside is the choice of ale - Sam Smith OBB only. Now, I like this beer, but it isn't one I'd wish to drink all night.
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My best pub discovery this year. Straight out of a Harold Pinter 'kitchen-sink' drama, it has genuine 20th century northern charm...and a genuine coal fire which really throws out the heat. I would never have expected tarnished glory such as this to attract the pre-club crowd, They were all there in one corner (most wearing eye-wateringly short skirts) having a whale of a time amongst the more senior regulars. The Sam Smiths is very well kept and of course good value as you'd expect from the slightly barmy Smith family. It's the staff and crowd that make this pub: warm and jovial. Think Coronation Street (circa Ena Sharples & Elsie Tanner) brushing lightly with Hollyoaks. Brilliant
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Sam Smith's Old Brewery is not my favourite ale, and there is no other choice, but it must be said that it is cheap and the pub itself is a proper old-fashioned boozer with good service and a pleasant atmosphere created by a varied and good humoured clientele who obviously appreciate the place as it is. Clean and tidy, worth a call whenever in Durham. One customer was making great play about eating his "twelve bob packet of crisps" whilst I was there.
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Great traditional pub, very cheep beer and a good crowd. Nice mix of locals and students. Off the beaten track and better for it
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A classic traditional pub with a great clientele. Nothing fancy, just a good old-fashioned back-street boozer, a rare gem and a pleasant find. Good beer (I had no problems with any of it - seemed to be kept OK to me), good company and probably the lowest prices for miles around. Well worth finding and surely an essential part of any Durham city crawl.
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The pubs atmosphere is one of the best in Durham but the beer (Sam smiths) is poor
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Why is Sam Smiths beer so cheap? If its kept properly its as good as any and its kept very well here. very basic pub, but I like it all the more for that.
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The better of the two Sam Smith pubs in the town, although trickier to find. Usual bargain beer in a comfy, traditional environment. Multi-roomed pub with a main bar, a snug off to the left and a pool room at the back. Generally attracts a more mature crowd. One of Durham's best.
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Smallish wedge-shaped Sam Smith's pub on a street corner by what appears to be Durham's equivalent to a ring road.
There are 2 traditional bars - a large locals bar and a smaller snug type bar - either side of a curious unusual off sales hatch in front of you as you enter through the front door. There is another a seperate snooker room at the back.
The OBB at � 1.34p was perfectly acceptable.
Needless to say, being a Sam's pub, there's no deafening musical distractions to detract from the atmosphere.
I didn't get to find out the reason for the unusual name, but I imagine it's something to do with coal mining, as that's what the pub sign shows.
In conclusion, worthy of consideration for inclusion on any Durham crawl
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Without venturing into the kind of terrifying 'barn of a 1970s football hooligan pub' territory, it would be hard to find a more old-school pub than this. It's a perfectly-maintained locals' pub that will serve you good beer (food is limited to traditional pub snacks only) when you hand over surprisingly little cash. Has pool table, has quiz. I'm not sure there's anything more to add, it really is that basic.
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The cheapest and the best pint in Durham. Present price for Old Brewery Bitter �1.34p. A gem of an old pub just for drinkers, try also the Alpine Lager and Draught Stout.
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I'm not trying to be controversial or insult any of the regulars who drink there and enjoy it but it has a bit of a reputation among the locals of being a bit of a gay bar.. To be honest, it is a bit of a sausage fest, with a poor female to male ratio.. The pool table is in a seperate room though so you can hide in there if you want. I'm not comfortable with the general atmosphere though so I've only been twice.. Which is a shame 'cos the beer's nice.
User4 - 16 Feb 2008 00:50 |
I know it's a little late to make a review 33 years after I was a regular visitor, but I'm going to. As a student in Durham I went to the poetry group which met at the Colpitts, and met some of the leading writers in the nort-east. The pub was a basic locals pub, selling excellent Sam Smith's OBB. Talking to an old guy from Durham at Clun youth hostel last summer, I was told it hasn't changed. Still a basic boozer, selling great OBB. Thank god some things don't change!
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I am almost loathe to post how good this pub is, for fear it will attract the attention of even more people. The fact that they keep excellent OB for �1.26 a pint is in itself a terrible indictment of all the greedy breweries and chains that charge double that for an inferior product! Just the greatest 'boozer' i've been to-and I've been to a hell of a lot!
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My very favourite pub in Durham. In the days of soulless and faceless chain bars flooding our high streets, you are guaranteed a friendly welcome from long standing landlady Carol, and the mix of local and students doesn't jar as it does in other Durham hostelries. Perhaps the only pub in Durham with an off sales hatch too, and very cheap and well kept Old Brewery Bitter.
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Great little pub with Sam Smiths on hand pumps (not like the drek that's served in the Swan and Three Cygnets). Cosy and comfortable, if a little smoky. Could do with some smart blart, however.
anonymous - 8 Jan 2007 19:27 |
Like visiting pubs untouched by the developers' dead hand? Well pay a visit to discover what a superb boozer this is. Comfort, tradition and well-kept Sam Smith's amazingly cheap beer. One to savour.
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Much better when the students have gone back to their mummies and daddies. This is a superb pub, which should be preserved for the nation.
anonymous - 12 Oct 2006 12:43 |
Little to add, except that it is not a hotel, despite the name, and the snug is quiet and peaceful, compared to the public bar.
Scaffolding currently makes reading the pub sign tricky !
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Nice traditional pub, with a good mix of locals and students. Being a student, I've never had any trouble from any of the locals here. When you first go in it gives a bit of a 'local pub for local people' feel, but every time I've been in I've had a bit of a laugh or friendly chat with some of the regulars on the bar, and they're actually quite pleasant in my experience.
The prices, as always with Sam Smith's pubs, are obscenely low for pints (although not so for bottled beer, as I found out to my surprise!), but there is much less selection than in the Swan and Three, with no Hefe-weiss or Sovereign. The draught they do have is well kept, and, although it can get a bit smoky, overall this is a pleasant place to relax with a few pints.
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The cheapest pint found in Durham: �1.24 for a pint of OB!
The quiz machines are fiendish to win anything out of though....
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One of the last pubs in Durham I visited and I don't know why I missed out it for so long.
Proper pub, with open coal fires and wonderfully dingy interior. Obscenely cheap beer (Sam Smith's), but no Sovereign!
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Good pub, what you'd expect from a small Sam's house. No Sovereign (for those of you that way inclined), but the OB is good.
The locals are generally OK in there, though once one of the pub quiz questions was 'whose is this phone number?' - it turned out to be one of the couples who always propped up the bar! I don't know the real intention, but it felt to me like they were less keen on the students being in there. However, some students can be less mature than others. In each case it is the minority affecting the rest of the people, who jsut want a good, cheap pint.
It can get very smoky in the bar area, but there is a (very) snug area at the other side that tends to be less so.
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Really nice, pleasant traditional local. The regulars a nice mix of quiet old people, and young student crowd from the terrace housing around about. But everyone enjoys the simple layout and great low prices. They are a Samuel Smiths pub, so limited drinks choice, but still very nice, and good value.
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its not very good - soulless, not much conversation and the regulars have a reputation for being old and rude. Not a great place to go at all.
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Just the best pub ever.
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Top local. Great beer. Great atmosphere. Good student/local mix. �1.22/pint.
Can't go wrong.
anonymous - 25 Nov 2004 23:35 |
The epicentre of Durham.
This is "the most bohemian pub in Durham" as it has been known to call itself. Boasting a Victorian poolroom and only having had ladies' installed in the 1990s, it goes down as a Crash Smash in my book.
Michael Batty - 18 Oct 2004 12:44 |
real locals pub
Robin - 3 Feb 2004 17:11 |
Excellent Sam Smith pub which, despite being refurbised for the first time since 1953 a few years ago, retains its original atmosphere and features. The beer is kept well and the staff friendly. Has live folk music one night a week. Also benefits from open coal fires, a pool table and a sdrats board. An absolute classic.
Nick - 14 Nov 2003 16:15 |
