Free Trade Inn

About Free Trade Inn

The Free Trade Inn sits on St Lawrence Road, on the bank above the Tyne where the Quayside walk runs east past the mouth of the Ouseburn. It was probably established as a beerhouse shortly after the 1830 Beer Act, and the present building was put up in 1896 to designs by the Newcastle practice Oswald and Son. The interior has never been prettified: bare walls, mismatched furniture, well-used bench seating and a famously decorated downstairs toilet covered in decades of graffiti. What draws people up the hill is the view. The beer garden and terrace look straight down the river to the Tyne Bridge, the Sage and the Gateshead bank, and it is widely rated the finest pub view in the city.

It is a serious beer pub rather than a themed one, with a rotating cask line-up and a strong keg and can range that leans heavily on North East breweries as well as further afield. It was named CAMRA Tyneside Pub of the Year in 2013, and remains a fixture on the Ouseburn pub trail alongside the Cumberland Arms, the Cluny, the Ship Inn and the Tyne Bar. Street food pop-ups appear regularly, and it is dog friendly and busy through the summer evenings.

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