The Brandling Villa, South Gosforth

Background: For a long time this was the best of the three pubs in South Gosforth; Millstone and Victory make up the trilogy.

The Brandling Villa - heaven knows why it's referred to as Villa Bistro on BITE - has had it's ups and downs mostly due to bizarre choices in front of house staff, but a relatively recent change of management seemed to be getting on top of that problem.

So what is it like now? Shabby is the starting point. The whole pub looks tatty and tired and the toilets are not just rank; they are gross (at time of writing this - the less rank of the two Gents Toilets was closed for repair). You need a ferryman to get you from the door to the urinal.

The beers are well kept and there is a respectable variety. Food is ok - but spoiled for me when I had the delight of listening to one of the Bar Staff (Manager?) bragging loudly about the deal he got on the burgers from a local supplier i.e., 76p each. That 76p burger, with some chips and bits added, is on the menu for well over �6. I don't mind 'mark up' but that is kicking the a*** out of profiteering.

The BV seems to be focussing on its Sausage and Ale, and, Pie and Ale special events and forgetting that it is a local pub in between. Both the two nearby pubs, as mentioned above, the Victory and the Millstone, are under new management - and both are being turned around into very pleasant pubs; if I was managing the Brandling Villa I would be worried. Very worried.

23 May 2011 12:42

The Hotspur, Newcastle

I'm going to add to the "it's not very pleasant but (apart from the toilets which are an outright disgrace) I cannot put my finger on why". It has it's share of idiot customers as do most the pubs around the haymarket station area. It's staff range from polite to downright surly. It allows customers to prop up the bar at the expense of new prospective customers getting served. But it isn't any of those things - it's just the sum total of the pub doesn't fit for me. It should, the potential is there, but it doesn't work for me.

15 Nov 2010 13:47

Bridge Hotel, Newcastle

I visited the Bridge Hotel for the first time 2 weeks ago. I was going to BITE rate it when I saw Princeofdenmarks comments and thought he must have been to a different pub. So I went again this weekend and checked it out again before rating it and deliberately visited the toilets this time given PODs comments.

I cannot agree with many of his observations. I found the pub to have a new carpet - clearly fitted between our two visits so that is understandable. The toilets were fine by my standards. The beer was excellent and people who were eating seemed to be enjoying their lunches. The views are tremendous and the outdoor terrace is a treat. However I won't be going back. The staff were nothing short of dreadful. 3 people on 'front of house' to deal with the Sunday lunchtime rush and the bar lady of senior years dealt with her first customer and straight away she screwed up the till. Instead of writing down the error and getting on with serving, she distracted another barmaid to help her. So one person left serving a growing host of people and unsurprisingly getting it wrong e.g. serving people out of turn, wrong pint pulled etc. When the till incident was resolved, barmaid number 2 was fine and got on with the job but the bar lady of senior years was outright rude to customers - me included. Guess she'd got the huff after making a schoolboy error on the till - but that isn't my, or any other customers' fault. I don't have to put up with it and I won't - I'm not going back.

Not what you would expect from SJF's pub chain's normal high standards in these areas.

15 Nov 2010 13:39