Give us a minute love, just popping out to blacken me lungs. Some things don’t change in mining towns. Slide the snug door to open it. Slide it, don’t pull it becomes a familiar refrain. Three pints of Castle Eden in and the whole snug joins in chorus, gameshow-esque, greeting newcomers who aren’t sliding the bloody thing. The most haunted bar in the city, says the chalkboard. Terrifying outdoor toilets. Spookily large unused lounge area at the back. Frighteningly sized jeroboams of Bell’s whiskey suspended upside down in an optic that surely can’t hold that weight. No trace of the ghost this tim- hang on - did we ever see the woman going out for a cig come back in?
The Dun Cow, 37 Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HN
Ha’way, another claimant of most haunted pub in the city. Easier to get the title of least haunted pub at this rate. Built in 1190AD though, so it’s seen its fair share of humanity. Narrowest bar I’ve come across: the Saturday pre-match drinking crowd must’ve been thinner in the twelfth century. University cities always deliver. Never has the phrase “Town and Gown” felt so apt. Two bookish likely lads of the landed gentry horsily chuntering about Proust’s In Search of Lost Time, next to half a dozen Toon-shirted blokes swilling light lager. Am I the union of this Venn Diagram? Mine’s a Guinness and quiet moment to ponder if I fit into this landscape anymore.
The Shakespeare, 63 Saddler St, Durham DH1 3NU
Jerry that door swings inwards, man. The door shudders against a pensioner and his ill placed stool as I bundle in from the rain. Exasperated barman has clearly pointed this out before, but Jerry stoically sits back down, bracing for more impact. A stone cold classic, is this place. Coal fires, thick regency wallpaper, heavy cornicing, brass adornments, secret gangway splitting through the mahogany bar to access one of several snugs. Ossett’s White Rat tasting glorious. Can’t be too many better kept pints in the County these days, surely. Friendly black lab mooches between tables, comparing head scratches from students, lecturers, hikers, lads from the pit villages, local pensioners and returning blow-ins like me.
The Victoria, 86 Hallgarth St, Durham DH1 3AS
Pub Vignettes is a fortnightly collection of impressions of the world’s more interesting drinking spots.
For those who’ve followed along for more than a decade via the now-retired Beermack site, welcome back. For those newer to this parish, welcome.