Gateshead Stadium

The only time I’ve ever been to Gateshead Stadium metro is the twice I’ve seen Bon Jovi there (don’t judge, it was the 90’s) and since the Stadium of Light down the road in Sunderland started hosting big shows, Gateshead has been demoted to the red headed step child of concert venues in the north east these days.

There’s no pub in sight immediately as you step off the metro, it’s all very residential and ‘urban’ (read into that what you will) however if you’re willing to put in the leg work, there is a really, really good pub about 15/20 minutes away from the station. Don’t let google maps fool you either, it will tell you the Schooner is only 0.5miles away from the metro, it’s not. Instead of type out all the route details below, here’s a screen shot of what I sent to Janine and Ang, who were meeting Steph and I there after work one Friday night (‘blur’ is supposed to say ‘blue’ attention to detail isn’t my strongest skill especially when I have a glass of wine in front of me)

Once you eventually arrive at the Schooner you’ll be met with a warm welcome. It’s not often that pubs manage to get the balance right by being able to be an all things to all people kind of place but the Schooner ticks all the boxes for me. We were only there for drinks (two large glasses of wine was about £6 ish, which is reasonable, tick one!) They have a good food menu which is prominently mexican food, which happens to be my favourite cuisine (tick two) and there are no visible TVs showing sports or bandit machines (ticks three and four).

All joking aside before we walked in i was worried it would be a local pub for local people and the music would stop as we swung the saloon doors open. That wasn’t the case at all though, there was a great ‘friday after work’ kind of atmosphere and there was a great mix of locals, friends having drinks  and couples enjoying some food.

The bar is well decorated with quirky pop art adorning the walls but manages not to fall into annoying hispter joint territory, it still feels very much like a local boozer. They have a great selection of local beers and a bottle of house white is only £11. They have an amazing jukebox selection and local bands play there regularly which i’m sure creates a fantastic atmosphere.

If you really don’t fancy the walk back up to Gateshead Stadium metro (no matter how spectacular the views of Asda and McDonalds are) and have some time on your hands it’s located right on the riverside and if you continue along the path for about 20 minutes you’ll end up back at the Millennium Bridge in Newcastle. That said, if you do make the walk, it’s totally worth it!

Contact:

South Shore Road Gateshead NE8 3AF
Tel: 0191 477 7404
Website: http://theschooner.co.uk/

If you want to find out about more of the pubs we’ve visited on our travels you can do so here