The Bacchus, High Bridge, Newcastle

Jul 4 2010 by Eddy Eats, Sunday Sun

Character 5
Quality 4
Service 4
Value 4
Rating: 17/20

ANY faithful reader of this column will know that eating is my consuming passion and I try to sample as many pubs as possible in the quest to find the perfect Sunday Scran.

So it’s always nice to have a recommendation from a reader.

Off to The Bacchus we went in search of a Sunday dinner described as "as big as Grey’s Monument" by one of my Scran fans with "plenty of flavour to boot".

Another reason I was keen to visit, was that the High Bridge pub in Newcastle was voted Tyneside’s top beer spot by the Tyneside and Northumberland branch of the Campaign For Real Ale.

It’s a smart place with a huge bar right at the heart of it.

The bar in fact is a bit like an ocean liner and has a 1930s feel, a time known for glamour. I’ll fit right in there then, I thought! There are seats round the bar, cosy tables at the back of the pub and a private snug area in the back.

We got chatting to a friendly barman who explained that the pub had been in its current form since 2001.

It used to be a wee bit up the lane, but moved when the road was partly demolished.

And he told us the original Bacchus was on Newcastle’s Newgate Street and made way in 1971 for the Greenmarket section of Eldon Square shopping centre.

Looking around, there was a good mixture of punters, women resting after a hard day’s shop in the sales (thank God Mrs Eats hadn’t asked to go), a couple of students drinking cask ales before heading off to the nearby Tyneside Cinema and a few lads lamenting the current state of football.

We were very lucky with the grub, mind you. A lateish time of departure meant we were cutting it a bit fine, and so it was that She Who Must Be Fed only just managed to be fed at all.

The polite barman escorted us to our table and handed the Sunday lunch menu over. For mains, there was a selection of roasts – beef, chicken, lamb or pork – but no other options, which makes things a little tricky if you’re not a fan of traditional dinners.

There was however a vegetarian option and you could have the meat in a giant stottie with chips if dinner wasn’t your thing.

But judging by the happy looks of contentment on other scranners’ faces, the dinners were going down a treat.