Quiz Nights in Newcastle City Centre

Newcastle city centre has enough pubs running regular quizzes that you can find one on most nights of the week, usually for a pound or two a head with the entry money going back out as prize cash. What follows is organised by night, because that is normally the question: not which quiz is best, but which one is on when you are free.

Monday

The Forth on Pink Lane runs the best known Monday quiz in the centre. It is a minute from Central Station, so it is an easy one to reach if you are coming in by train, and the pub itself is more lounge-bar than traditional boozer, with sofas, a quieter side room and a real fire in winter. There is a roof garden upstairs if the room gets warm.

Monday is the quietest night of the week in most city pubs, which is rather the point. The Forth on a Monday is busy in a way it has earned.

Best for: Best for an easy start to the week, and the simplest to get to straight off a train.

Thursday

Bodega on Westgate Road has been running its Thursday quiz long enough to have its own regulars. The pub sits next door to the Tyne Theatre and Opera House, and if you have not been, the two large stained-glass domes over the main room are worth the visit on their own.

It is a proper drinking pub with a rotating cask range rather than a food-led one, so eat first. It fills early on theatre nights and before matches at St James' Park, a few minutes uphill, so arrive with time to find a table.

Best for: Best for real ale and for anyone who likes a quiz in a pub with some character to it.

Sunday

The Trent House on Leazes Lane runs a Sunday evening quiz that has become part of the furniture. The pub sits between the city centre and Leazes Park, close to St James' Park and walkable from the Haymarket, and it is one of the genuinely independent places left in the middle of town.

It is known as much for its jukebox as its beer, with a soul and Motown collection that regulars take seriously, and there is a function room upstairs when the main bar fills.

Best for: Best for a relaxed end to the weekend, and the strongest jukebox of the three.

More quizzes around the centre

Those three are the ones we can vouch for. Several other city-centre venues run quizzes on a regular basis, and Newcastle's own visitor guide has listed quizzes at the Black Swan at Newcastle Arts Centre on Westgate Road, Mosaic Tap and the WonderBar at The Gate on Wednesdays, North Terrace on Claremont Road on Thursdays, STACK on Strawberry Place on Mondays, and a monthly quiz at The Stand on High Bridge. Schedules at these have moved around, so treat the night as a starting point and check before you set off.

Worth knowing: the Holy Hobo quiz that often appears in city listings is in Jesmond rather than the centre, so allow for the trip out.

Practical bits

Entry is cheap, prizes are the pot. Most city-centre quizzes run at a pound or two a head, and the usual arrangement is that the entry money is what the winners take, sometimes split across the first three teams.

Team size. Four to six is the sweet spot almost everywhere. Larger teams are often allowed but rarely help, and some quizzes cap them.

Turn up early. City-centre pubs fill fast on quiz nights and most do not take bookings for tables. Half an hour before the start is sensible, more if there is a match or a show on nearby.

Check the night before you travel. This is the one that catches people out. Quiz nights move, pause over Christmas and the summer, and occasionally stop altogether when a landlord changes. A quick look at the pub's Facebook page on the day is worth the thirty seconds.

Best for: Quiz schedules change more often than any other listing we keep. If you find one of these has moved, please tell us and we will update the guide.

Know a city-centre quiz we have missed? Get in touch.