I grew up during a period when going ‘out out’ in town meant Baja Beach Club, Buffalo Joe’s and ‘The Boat’. I can look back on it fondly now, but — understatement — it was all a bit naff, wasn’t it? A bit Benidorm via Blackpool. I mean of course at the time I enjoyed it. Looking back though, it’s hardly a wonder that Newcastle was for so long without a Michelin star, never mind a great cocktail bar.
Geordie Shore didn’t exactly help with that. But then craft beer happened. The boat sailed away for the final time. The quayside and the wider city saw real regeneration. I compiled my favourite cocktail bars. And even some great wine bars. The tide was turning.
Then COVID was another setback. I genuinely don’t think the world has recovered in any meaningful way since.
Something that is definitely not helping us heal, is all the ‘Irish’ bars popping up in town.
In Q1 2026, three more have appeared. I get it, Guinness is suddenly cool with the kids now. And it’s hard for bars. But…
The Canny Lad // The Dubliner // Katie O’Briens // Liberty Celtic Tavern // Dirty Murphys // And the awesomely named ‘Irish Tavern’. Really?
It’s not like we are short of ‘proper’ Irish bars. Between the Tyneside Irish Centre (est. 1871), Rosie’s (1988), and Rafferty’s (2000) which are really, cultural landmarks, the segment was well served.
But now, the new breed. It’s here to cash in on the ‘good craic’ pound. It feels like a couple would have sufficed. Some are chains, there’s a dozen UK Katie O’Briens, for example. They have a gimmick appeal, fair enough. Much like a Revolucion de Cuba doesn’t actually do anything remotely Latin.
But the trend and sheer quantity of these over the last 24 months is just cynical.
Shit name. Triple-varnished dark wood. Branded Guinness tat on every possible surface. ‘Gaelic Type’ font. Lad with an acoustic guitar murdering Mr. Brightside / Sweet Caroline / Country Roads. Emerald green everything. Leprechauns: made in China, and ordered off Amazon. General aroma somewhere between ‘old man fart’ and ‘Guinness vomit’. A bike mounted on the wall for no reason at all. Sláinte! Shot girls encouraging a Baby Guinness chaser after every single drink. You know, ‘for the craic!’
It could be any city in the UK. Anywhere, it seems, but Ireland…
They’re money-printing machines for pissed-up stag dos of a dozen lads on a fleeting visit from Derby. It’s the exact kind of tourist pound that Newcastle was famous for thirty years ago, but should be moving away from.
No one’s having date night there. They don’t serve food. There’s no regulars. They’re not even welcoming, or anything approaching céad míle fáilte (‘a hundred thousand welcomes’) because the surly bouncers are so used to ejecting coked-up groups starting their third fight of the night. Bants!
What even is an Irish bar? I don’t feel qualified enough to say, but surely it’s about community, traditional Irish music, atmosphere, a surly/friendly publican. These faux-Irish bars, predictably, have none of that charm.
They’re undoing the work that better operators have spent years putting in, reversing decades of Newcastle’s image as a party city. From an outside investment perspective, would you want to open anywhere between Collingwood St. and the Bigg Market?
They’re a fad, here today, gone tomorrow. One operator occupied the much-beloved Coop. Which then tried (not very hard) its hand at a genuine cocktail bar. When that didn’t work — STICK A SHAMROCK ON IT, bosh. ☘️ See also, Liberty House, and whatever the fuck student institution Mushroom has turned into. They don’t care about Newcastle, or the community, they’re not building brands or legacy. They’re short-term investment vehicles.
So please, licensing people of Newcastle City Council. Residents. Visiting stag and hen parties even. You can drink Guinness anywhere nowadays. Better still, try a Donzoko ‘Donnie’s’. There are ~200 bars, and you can have fun in any of them. And I’m sure you can do better than this example of absolutely phenomenal craic from Katie O’Briens social media, which really, signifies the whole thing for me. 👇🏼 Shite.
