Border Minstrel, High Gosforth Park, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE3 5EJ, Tel:0191 2362002

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The Border Minstrel stands right outside the racecourse and opposite the Parklands Golf Course. A large L-shaped room for both drinkers and diners.
It generally has 3 real ales on tap although only 2 available when Cask Task arrived. Both were from the High House Farm Brewery, one of our favourites. Matfen Magic and Nels Best were the two on offer.
The music in the place , however, nearly blew my little grey cells out.

Millstone, Haddricks Mill Road, South Gosforth, Newcastle, Tyne & Wear, NE3 1QL. Tel:0191 2853429.

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The Millstone was a pub not before visited by Cask Task and turned out to be a quite cosy and comfortable place.

Not a real ale pub as such but offering Spitfire and Bass.

The Job Bullman, St Nicholas Avenue, Gosforth, Newcastle Upon Tyne. NE3 1AA. Tel:0191 2236320

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The Job Bulman, formerly the Post Office on St Nicholas Avenue, just off Gosforth High Street, is an enormous Wetherspoons pub. Quite plush inside and as usual, freindly and busy.
The first time Cask Task had seen the place, and we were impressed.

Although I have said this before about Wetherspoons, its not my idea of a pub.
You can't fail to be impressed with The Job Bulman though. Good food, reasonably priced and an enormous selection, 9 to be exact, of real ales at extremely good prices. But its still like going to a restaurant for a pint of beer!

From the Arundels Black Beastie, which was loverly incidentally, through Newmans Wolvers Ale, Moondance from Four Marks at Hampshire, Westgate Brewerys Flankers Tackle (I do like these names-- not like John Smiths!!)...... oh I could go on and on 'til I frothed at the mouth and fell over backwards!

Brandling Arms, High Steet, Gosforth. Newcastle Upon Tyne. NE3 1HD. Tel:0191 2854023.

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The Brandling Arms, apparently named after a famous wealthy family. The Brandlings must have been a right bunch of boozers as there appears to be a few Brandling pubs in the Gosforth area.
This large pub is attractive at the front, inside and even at the rear, where a pleasant open beer garden lies. Cask Task is starting to sound like a travelogue!
Some of the funiture inside was low slung and so comfortable I had to be lifted out of it so that we could have a steak sandwich. However, the food was very enjoyable.

The Brandling Arms majors on food but does have a reasonable choice in real ale. Although I enjoyed a half of the Adnams Wheat Beer, the Deuchars IPA was more to my liking. Others on hand were Youngs Bitter and Roosters Huntsman Ale.

A pleasant afternoon.

The Queen Victoria, 206 High Street, Gosforth, Newcastle Upon Tyne. NE3 1HD. Tel:0191 2856917.

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Cask Task almost lost patience trying to figure out what the Queen Victoria pub was called. You could come in one year for a pint at the Northern Lights and come in a year later to find you were ordering your jar at Ye Olde Jockey! Let's hope it's settled down now to what was, I think, this old pubs original name.

The Queen Victoria is a pleasant enough place, but the competition on Gosforth High Street is quite tough. Still, with six real ales to choose from, its worth a look in.

Mordues Workie Ticket, Everards Tiger, Directors, Pedigree and guess what, Black Sheep Bitter, but Jennings Cumberland was the choice of the day.
A good selection.

The Gosforth Hotel, Salters Road, Gosforth, Newcastle Upon Tyne. NE3 1DH. Tel: 0191 2856617.

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On the corner of Salters Road and Gosforth High Street stands the old Gosforth Hotel.

If your walking north up the High Street, make sure you take a sandwich with you if you fancy a pint of real ale in the Gosforth Hotel. Getting over the crossroads could take a while.

The interior has been cheered up quite a bit since my 1970's days there and the ale choice certainly has too. Although four of the handles were not in use, I'm pleased to say that my choice for the day, Mordues Workie Ticket, was on. So were Timothy Taylors Landlord, Titanic Iceberg and of course the ever present Black Sheep.

Not a bad pub, and grub on sale too.

The County, 70 High Street, Gosforth, Newcastle. NE3 1HB. Tel: 0191 2856919.

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The County is a super real ale and pub food place.
Cask Task loved every moment of its visit.
A good atmosphere, without the ears being bombarded by loud music. We actually had some good conversation. Friendly bar staff and good service.
13 real ale choices on tap.Daleside Old Leg Over was our choice but a difficult decision.
Daleside Blonde, Deuchars IPA, Fullers London Pride, Wells Bombardier, Adnams Bitter, Roosters Huntsman, Daleside Bitter, Black Sheep, Shepherd Neames Spitfire and Abbot Ale.
What about that lot!
Cask Task all enjoyed the food there as well by the way.

What more can we say? Get in there and have a pint or two.

The Brandling Villa, Haddricks Mills Road, South Gosforth. NE3 1QL. Tel:0191 2840490.

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The Brandling Villa in South Gosforth sits on a corner site of a busy road junction with a decent sized car park at the rear.

What a smashing old building it is. A shame the builders were in and the scaffolding spoilt the look of the place. The wild wind unfortunately flattened the sign offering food. See the Cask Task photo above.

Inside though, made up for the temporary disruption outside. Warm, welcoming, attractive and comfortable it was. The place was under new management of some two months. Young (god they all look like school kids to me these days) Dave Carr was the new encumbent (previously at the Market Tavern, Durham City) but a very pleasant chap he turned out to be.

Although there were only three hand pumps. Deuchars IPA, Black Sheep(what else!) and Old Rosie Scrumpy, Dave had three more to come.

Cask Task enjoyed a couple of pints of the IPA in the Brandling Villa before wishing the new management best wishes and moving on.

Well worth a visit.

Falcons Nest, Rotary Way, North Brunton, Gosforth, Newcastle Upon Tyne. NE3 5EH. Tel:0191 2367078.

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The Falcons Nest, just off the A1 roundabout for Gosforth Park, appears to be the latest edition to the Badger and the Snowy Owl, and did not disappoint. Although Cask Task did not try the food the ambience was exactly the same as the other two. Welcoming and comfortable.

The three real ales were Deuchars IPA, Black Sheep, and Harviestouns Bitter and Twisted, the last of which was sampled and very nice it was too.

The Victory, Killingworth Road, South Gosforth, Newcastle. NE3 1SY. Tel:0191 2851254

The Victory, in So. Gosforth, used to be an occasional lunch time stop off point, about ten or more years ago, if I happened to be working in the Gosforth area and a good pint was required.

Parking was always a bit of a problem but has been improved considerably I'm pleased to say.

The ale selection was always superb and with Workie Ticket, Landlord, Directors, Pedigree and Deuchars IPA on offer, that hasn't changed, but I only had time for one. What a pity the Workie Ticket I chose was a bit on the cloudy side. There's no excuse for that in a place like The Victory which was always top notch. A shame I didn't have the time to sort it out and left disappointed. I hope I was just unlucky as The Victory used to have such a good name for ale.