Best Sunday Roast in Newcastle City Centre

Sunday lunch in the city centre works differently to Sunday lunch in the suburbs. Nothing here is a village local you can wander into at two o'clock: the good rooms take bookings weeks ahead, most stop serving mid-afternoon, and a home matchday changes the calculation again. The upside is range. Within fifteen minutes' walk of Monument you can have a roast in a thirteenth-century friary, in a brewpub under the Tyne Bridge, or in a pie house on the Quayside.

Blackfriars Restaurant

Blackfriars Restaurant on Friars Street occupies the refectory of a Dominican friary founded in 1239, and has a decent claim to the oldest purpose-built dining room still in use in the country. It is a stone room with a beamed ceiling and a courtyard outside, tucked behind Stowell Street.

The kitchen changes the roast week to week rather than running a fixed carvery, and leans hard on Northumbrian producers. Sunday service is lunchtime only and finishes mid-afternoon, so book. We cover the rest of the menu in our guide to the best restaurants in Newcastle city centre.

Best for: The special-occasion roast: birthdays, visiting relatives, a room with a story.

The Broad Chare

The Broad Chare sits on the chare of the same name behind the Live Theatre, a couple of minutes from the Quayside. It is Terry Laybourne's pub, opened by 21 Hospitality Group, and it behaves like a pub with a very good kitchen rather than a restaurant in pub clothing: cask ale at the bar, snacks all afternoon, dining room upstairs.

Sunday is lunch only, midday to around five, with no evening service. The roast is a short choice of joints rather than a long list, which is usually the sign of a kitchen that would rather do two things well.

Best for: A pub roast cooked to restaurant standards, and the pick if you want a pint with it.

Dobson & Parnell

Dobson & Parnell is at 21 Queen Street, the address where Laybourne's original 21 Queen Street made its name, and takes its title from the architects John Dobson and William Parnell. It is a bright, unfussy dining room a minute from the Quayside.

The Sunday format is a seasonal lunch menu with the roast alongside it, served midday to five. Good if half the table wants beef and Yorkshires and the other half would rather eat fish, and quieter than the Quayside bars a few doors away.

Best for: Mixed tables where not everyone wants a roast.

The Bridge Tavern

The Bridge Tavern is built into the arches below the Tyne Bridge on Akenside Hill, which gives it the most photographed beer terrace in the city. It trades as a brewpub, and the food follows the same line: British, seasonal, carefully sourced.

The Sunday roast lists its joints by farm and breed, typically beef, pork and lamb plus a vegetarian option, with roast potatoes, seasonal veg, Yorkshire pudding and gravy. A longer two or three course Sunday menu sits around it if you want a starter and a pudding.

Best for: The view. Nowhere else puts the Tyne Bridge directly overhead.

Redhouse

Redhouse on Sandhill is a pie, mash and ale house in one of the old merchant buildings on the Quayside, all dark wood and exposed beams, with a pavement terrace facing the Tyne Bridge. It is dog friendly and the least formal room here by some distance.

Pies are the house speciality, but a roast runs on Sundays alongside them, with food served from late morning through the afternoon rather than stopping sharply at three.

Best for: A late, dog-in-tow sort of Sunday.

The Town Wall

The Town Wall is on Pink Lane, under a hundred yards from Central Station and named for the medieval wall that ran along this edge of the city. It is large, comfortable and has a serious drinks list, so it is the obvious choice when someone has a train to catch.

Sunday roasts are a fixture, generally beef, chicken or pork plus a vegetarian option. It stands in the same stretch as several of the places in our guide to the best pubs and bars in Newcastle city centre.

Best for: Roast before a train, or the last stop of a weekend in the city.

Pleased to Meet You

Pleased to Meet You occupies a Grade II listed former hotel on High Bridge, the lane between Grey Street and Pilgrim Street, and is better known for a gin list past fifty bottles than for its kitchen. That undersells the Sunday menu, which runs to several roast joints plus a version putting a trio of meats on one plate.

Restaurant service on a Sunday continues into the evening, unusually late for a roast in this city and useful if you want to eat at six rather than one.

Best for: An evening roast, and the best drinks list to have with one.

WonderBar

WonderBar is in The Gate on Newgate Street, a sports and darts bar that has quietly built a reputation for its Sunday dinner. Roasts start at midday with beef, chicken, gammon and a vegan option.

Worth knowing: tables are walk-in only on Newcastle United matchdays, and St James' Park is five minutes up the road. On any other Sunday, book.

Best for: Roast with the afternoon football on, without leaving the centre.

Booking, matchdays and timing

Almost every kitchen here stops serving roasts mid-afternoon, with Pleased to Meet You and Redhouse the main exceptions, so a late lunch needs checking first. A home fixture at St James' Park reshapes the whole centre on a Sunday, some venues dropping to walk-ins only and others filling from eleven. And roasts sell out, so ring ahead.

The Broad Chare, Dobson & Parnell, The Bridge Tavern and Redhouse all sit within five minutes of each other, which makes a river walk the easy plan either side. For a slower start, see our guide to the best breakfast and brunch in Newcastle city centre.

Know a city-centre Sunday roast we have missed? Get in touch via our contact page.