Beehive Inn, Hartley Lane, Whitley Bay

May 31 2009 by Eddy Eats, Sunday Sun

THE sun was shining and Mrs Eats was full of the joys of spring.

She’s been a bit down in the dumps recently, poor soul, what with the credit crunch, worries about swine flu, and those fat cat MPs living it up at our expense, so it was nice to see her back on form.

She even fetched the Sunday Sun, made me a cup of tea, and said consolingly that the football results might get better next season.

So, when she mentioned that she quite fancied a trip to the seaside I didn’t have the heart to argue, even though I was all for a quiet day in the country.

Then, I had a brainwave. Why not both? I remembered dropping in to a pleasant pub on a winding country lane near Whitley Bay a few years ago after we got lost in the Eatsmobile.

The only trouble was I couldn’t remember the name. Not to worry, I know where Whitley Bay is, so off we went. It was close to Earsdon, a pretty little village just outside the seaside resort, I recalled. As we drove around and she huffed and puffed I kept calm and suddenly there it was, down Hartley Lane between Earsdon and Seaton Sluice - the BeeHive Inn.

As I breathed a sigh of relief and found a place to park, Mrs Eats murmured that it looked very nice. Praise indeed.

The day had brought out families with children who were having a whale of a time in the beer garden with its views across fields to St Mary’s Island, where I’d looked for crabs as a lad. Ah, memories. But to the task in hand. She Who Must Be Fed was getting agitated and we decided to rest our weary and hungry bones inside.