The Bridge Hotel

About The Bridge Hotel

The Bridge Hotel stands at Castle Garth, wedged between the Castle Keep and the approach to Robert Stephenson's High Level Bridge. The present building was put up in 1901 for the brewer J Fitzgerald, to a design by the Newcastle practice Cackett and Burns Dick, the firm later responsible for the Laing Art Gallery among other city landmarks. It was listed Grade II in 1987. The main bar is a generous, high-ceilinged room broken up into distinct seating areas, with a raised section at the rear and a great deal of original stained glass. Windows and the outdoor terrace at the back look over a surviving stretch of the medieval town wall towards the river and Gateshead.

It remains part of the Sir John Fitzgerald estate and trades as a straightforward cask ale pub, with changing guest beers alongside the regulars. The upstairs function room is the other half of its reputation: it has housed a folk club since 1958, one of the longest-running in the country, and continues to host live music and club nights. The combination of setting, architecture and music makes it one of the more distinctive stops on a Quayside or castle walk, and it is within a few minutes of Newcastle Central Station and the Castle Keep.

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