Crown Posada

About Crown Posada

The Crown Posada occupies a tall, slender building at 31 and 33 The Side, on the steep curve of road that drops from St Nicholas Cathedral down towards the Quayside. The present pub dates from 1880 and was designed by the local architect W L Newcombe. It is Grade II listed, and the listing reflects how little has been stripped out over the years: a pair of Pre-Raphaelite style stained glass windows facing the street, an elaborate plaster ceiling, mirrored panels along one wall and a run of small snug booths tucked behind the door. The layout is famously tight, a single long room barely wide enough for two people to pass at the bar.

It is one of the oldest surviving pubs in the city centre and is run by the Newcastle brewer and pub operator Sir John Fitzgerald. The appeal is deliberately old fashioned. There are no televisions and no fruit machines, and music comes from a record player rather than a sound system, so conversation carries. The bar keeps a rotating selection of cask ales alongside the regular range, and the pub is a fixture on real ale trails through the city. Its position between the Cathedral, Dean Street and the Quayside makes it an easy first or last stop on a walk around the historic core of Newcastle.

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