The success of a traditional city boozer which has been going quietly about its business for decades is providing some festive cheer on the local social scene despite the current financial gloom.
The Crown Posada on The Side, a real ale specialist and one of Newcastle's oldest pubs, is proving a constant in a changing world. Having survived the pandemic, it now remains largely unaffected by the cost of living crisis and, as other bars come and go, it simply stays the same as it has always been.
Its general manager Andy Hickson might have been in his post for only around four months but he says that despite everything that has happened "the Crown Posada is still the Crown Posada". And its traditions seem to be the key to its success.
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The Victorian watering hole, all polished wood and stained glass, is a haven of calm on the Quayside where customers can snuggle up in the snug or join the hubbub of the long, narrow bar - with its spectacular moulded ceiling - where music from a 1941 record player adds to the retro atmosphere.
With The Cooperage nearby long closed, it is said to be the city's oldest pub after The Old George and over the years it has acquired a reputation that attracts tourists keen to tick it off their guide book lists and hear about its history.
It is said to be half-Spanish in origin, due to an early owner being a sea captain who had both a wife in Spain and a mistress in Newcastle. The word 'Posada' - tagged on to its original name The Crown - means inn or resting place.
Over the years, it has added to its wealth of stories and it's no surprise that this autumn it was one of just 33 pubs nationwide to feature in a new Great Pubs of England book whose aim was to document part of Britain’s national heritage.
Regulars had, however, feared for its future during Covid when the pub, then part of the Sir John Fitzgerald Group, remained closed for two years; being unable - due to its narrow layout - to implement social distancing measures even when pandemic restrictions started to ease. In November 2020, CAMRA - the Campaign for Real Ale - successfully moved to have the Crown Posada designated as an 'asset of community value' in order to protect it from any risk of being lost to redeveleopment.
But fears for the much loved boozer were unfounded and, to everyone's relief, it finally reopened a year ago, after being taken over by local leisure company Ladhar Group as part of a multi-million-pound acquisition of 16 North East pubs; the Crown Posada becoming its "crown jewel".
Andy says that being part of big established companies - first SJF then Ladhar - meant the Crown Posada had security behind it during lockdown. At the time, having worked for the companies in several city bars, Andy had been based at another real ale favourite, The Bodega, but questions about the Crown Posada had been spreading among customers there too.
The next concerns became more to do with whether the old favourite would change under new hands. Again, customers were relieved to find upon the reopening that its look remained the same - save for a full freshening-up which extended to new wooded flooring and reupholstered seating.
Ladhar didn't want to alter its character and, against the backdrop of muted green and burgundy newly-painted decor, there hang the same caricature artworks while the familiar sailors' caps, left by crew of ships visiting the Tyne over the years, are still on display behind the bar.
A renovated outdoor area - a 'hidden' strip of space stretching up from the pub's entrance gate - includes beer barrel tables and, from the far end, a snatched view of part of the High Level Bridge can be seen over a wall which shows a projection of a crown at night.
On its reopening, customers, new and old, could not wait to get back through its doors and that, it appears, has been the case ever since. Despite the current cost of living crisis and rocketing energy bills - following on from the challenges of the pandemic which proved the death knell for some in the industry - the Crown Posada stands firm.
Against the odds, it is even thriving. While the company thinks the situation might be different by January or February, "there's no change at the moment." Andy is taking things in his stride.
While beer costs have been rising, they're mostly absorbed by the business and for customers after a good deal prices for a pint start at £4, he says.
The pub hasn't a big staff - just three - and, as for rising energy bills, they make sure they don't waste electricity - but that's normal good practice points out Andy. "It's exactly the same as for your household."
He adds: "Maybe we have to fight a bit harder, work a bit harder, as they're difficult times and you have to give that bit extra." The pub attracts a wide mix of customers - "18 to 80" he says - and has late opening now on a Friday and Saturday night until 2am.
"If people haven't got the money you don't see them," he says but he hasn't found any drop-off in customers. They like the bar's range of beers and they like quality.
While they might spend the same amount they might "spend more carefully, more selectively", he says, but trends in the local night-time economy are hard to predict or compare as "everything was so skewed by being in lockdown and Covid".
As for the likes of beer tax and usual issues facing the trade, from brewers' costs to national minumum wage, he says: "Those issues have always been there." So, it's business as usual at Crown Posada.
"Pubs are such an integral part of English life and certainly Geordie life," says Andy. "After losing something like that during the pandemic, on their first time back people were thrilled to be there." And more seem to appreciate their boozers.
Whereas going to a pub used to be just routine for many "now it's pretty wonderful", he adds and, with the Crown Posada enjoying its new post-Covid lease of life, its enduring success is a welcome contrast to stories of doom and gloom.
Andy adds: "There's been a pandemic; there's been a change of ownership but the Crown Posada is still the Crown Posada."
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