| Britannia 1 Archer Street  | This pub is a bit off the town centre circuit but serves 4 real ales and has a friendly local feel to it. It was voted Darlington CAMRA's pub of the year in 2005. |
| Glittering Star 9 Stonebridge | Samuel Smith pub with very reasonable prices. It's a shame that Sam Smiths stopped brewing Museum Ale a while back as it was one of my favourites, I find the Old Brewery Bitter just a bit ordinary. |
| Hole in the Wall Market Place | Market place pub with outdoor seating in summer. It has good pub feel to it and has been recently refurbished. Hand pulled Magnet and Abbot Ale are always on tap. In the football season matches are shown on a big screen. |
| Number Twenty 2 22 Coniscliffe Road   | You don't have to queue to get in here anymore since the opening of Hash Bar (with no real ale) two doors down, most of the pretentious wine drinkers seem to have gone there. It is still very popular though, and rightly so, mainly with an over 30s crowd. They have an impressive range of real ales including beers from Hambleton and Village Brewer plus 6 or 7 guests. Erdinger Weissbier and bottled Frambozen are also available (although expensive). It was voted Darlington CAMRA's pub of the year 2007 and 2008. Mobile phone use is discouraged. Closed Sundays. |
| Pennyweight Market Place | Another market place pub with outdoor seating in the summer, they have 4 real ales but prices are a bit on the high side and it never seems to get that full, maybe the two things are related? |
| Quaker Coffee House Mechanics' Yard  | A small pub in an alleyway that has the most impressive selection of real ales in the town. 10 regularly changing real ales are always available, plus real cider. It has been voted Darlington CAMRA's town pub of the year in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006 and is the current 2009 winner. They have live music on Wednesdays and open mike sessions with Fudjit on Mondays. Open till Midnight every day. |
| Red Lion 37 Priestgate | Not as popular as it used to be once, I don't really know why. A recent change of management has seen 3 real ale pumps installed, with Greene King IPA being a regular, so let's see if this makes a difference. In the football season matches are shown on a big screen and it can get a bit more lively then. |
| Tanner's Hall 62-64 Skinnergate  | A Wetherspoon's outlet with 4-6 real Ales, very cheap prices (Greene King IPA is 99p) and a range of foreign beers, mostly lagers though. The biggest drawback with this place is that often only one real ale is on even though all of the pump clips are still showing, suggesting 4-6 beers are on. They refuse to turn pump clips around when a beer is off, or replace the barrel. It is frustrating to have to change your choice up to three times, sometimes it is better just to ask which beer is actually on, but even this seems a difficult question for the staff to answer. Open till 1pm Fri-Sat, 12pm weekdays.
Latest News: The situation seems to have improved a bit lately, with "Coming Soon" clips being put on empty pumps and more beers being actually on, let's see if this is kept up. |
| Tapas Bar 98 Bondgate | Yet another pub with outdoor seating in summer. Old Peculier and Magnet are always available plus 3 guests. It can get crowded at weekends with people waiting for meals but it has a good pub atmosphere. |
| Tap & Spile 99 Bondgate | Another pub with outdoor seating in summer, and unique in being the only real ale pub in the town to have a 2:00am licence, and it does seem to stay open on weekends. 2-3 real ales. Live music on Saturdays. |
| William Stead Crown Street | Another Weatherspoon's pub, branded as a "Lloyds No1" pub, which is like Weatherspoon's but with music. It has a covered but semi-open walled area for the benefit of smokers. Prices at the moment see to be as cheap as Tanners Hall (above). The same comments about advertising more variety than they actually have available also apply here but the situation seems to be worse, four beers out of the six clearly on display in front of me were not available the last time I went in. I also had a problem getting my change back from one of the the obviously inexperienced staff, apparently 1p is not important enough to warrant a walk back from the till. I would not recommended this place to beer drinkers (or people who count their change). Open till 1pm Fri-Sat. |
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