A modern bar which serves proper food with a prime location right opposite Newcastle central station.

The Venue
The Lounge takes up a whole corner of Neville Street and there are plenty of metal tables and chairs outside. It's quite long and spacious and is predominantly decked out in purples, whites, steel and blacks. There are distressed hide sofas around box-like dark wood tables in the area at the front, as well as metal stools at the slatted wood bar, while luminous columns continuously change colour and fans whirr overhead.

Mini glitter balls hang from the ceiling, there’s a plasma screen above the bar and is a row of diner-style tables which are covered with English farmyard-style blue and white checked tablecloths. There are mini screens by the side of each table which you can use to play the “cheap drinks” game by trying to press the button at the opportune moment. There’s a club, also called The Lounge, downstairs.

The People
The Lounge benefits from its plum location, attracting people coming to and from the station. For the selfsame reason, hen and stag parties pass through here at the weekend. As such it can be quite a random bunch of carousers at any one time.

The Food and Drink
On tap you’ve got Carlsberg, Red C Cider, Tetleys and Tuborg while there’s Newcastle Brown, Budweiser, Corona, Beck’s, Magner’s and Peroni. There are also six white wines and six reds, and rose, and it's £2.75 to £3 for a glass and between £8.95 and £14.95 for a bottle.

Their latest trick is to introduce a classic British menu, and it's a stroke of genius. It includes a do-it-yourself bangers and mash option with three types of sausages (pork, herby and beef), mash (plain, mustard grain and cheesy) and gravy (regular, onion and mint) to choose from for £5.95. They do cottage pie, and steak and ale pie for £6.45. A doorstep sandwich, such as cheddar cheese and coleslaw, is £2.75. And they even do cornflakes and milk for breakfast — for 95p.

The Last Word
All power to The Lounge, which tries a few things that other bars daren’t.

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