With speakeasy-style pubs becoming increasingly popular, a new guide released this week claims to identity 'the best hidden and secret bars In the UK'.
Online retailer The Bottle Club has ranked pubs on grounds of secrecy and creativity - in terms of disguised entrances - as well as cocktail range, cost and Google ratings.
London came out tops in the rankings while its top 10 list featured a number of cities including Edinburgh and Dublin as well as Manchester, Liverpool and York - but not once does Newcastle have a mention.
Read more: 10 independent Newcastle pubs to try for craft beer
Not a single pub in the city makes the list so why not?
Newcastle is not without its speakeasys and secret boozers - so secret and well-hidden perhaps that they simply haven't been noticed.
To make up for the oversight, we have picked out our own top 10 hidden gems that are worth tracking down if you haven't tried them. Here's where the guide has missed - and it includes one hideaway which has just been named one of top cocktail bars in the UK.
Prohibition Cabaret Bar
Having started life inside a tucked-away converted railway arch on the Gateshead end of the Tyne Bridge, this twenties to thirties-style speakeasy venue moved - cloak and dagger - north of the river in 2019 to take over the former site of the famous Jazz Cafe in Pink Lane cafe.
A vaudeville refurbishment later and behind those unassuming doors lies a world of cabaret, music hall and all that jazz just waiting to be discovered. Find out here what is on its programme.
The Exchange
Conjuring up a Harry Potter-like magic, there's a concealed entrance to this city newcomer which is hidden in plain sight just off Newcastle's central shopping street.
Once you are at the entrance to what used to be Purple Bear in Prudhoe Chare - the alley off Northumberland Street - you'll spot a red telephone box behind which is the opening to a 1930s-style bar which just launched in October and describes itself as "the perfect hidden gem".
Speakeasy-style touches include references to infamous gangsters such as Al Capone on the menu while the phone box theme continues in a telephone system which allows calls between tables.
If that rings a bell, pardon the pun, among those with fond memories of the glory days of Tuxedo Junction - the city club with table phones which literally provided a chat-up line for customers - then The Exchange's quirky above-seat traffic light set-up, which customers can operate to reveal their relationship status, will no doubt also appeal. See here.
Blues & Bourbon
If you don't know it's there, you can pass this basement boozer countless times without noticing.
Formerly the home of American prohibition-style Billy Bootleggers which opened in 2017, this new live music den beneath the Grainger Market continues that dark and mysterious dive bar vibe.
Descend the flight of stairs and discover music nights and a menu featuring the likes of burgers, tacos and its trademark drink Blue Moonshine and the Pickle Back - that's whisky with a pickle juice chaser to the uninitiated. Find out more here.
The Town Mouse
Another basement bar you'd easily miss - especially if you have sights set on Wetherspoon's The Five Swans just a few steps further along St Mary’s Place - this small but perfectly formed micropub, a CAMRA pub of the year winner, was created from a former coffee shop in 2017.
Check out its dark, cosy interior which was apparently inspired by the traditional ale houses of Belgium and the basement pubs of Ireland and Berlin. This one's so weeny it has space for 50 people tops. See here.
The Wobbly Duck
We're basement level again for another micro pub which made a surprise appearance in the city in 2021, having taken shape during lockdown in the former home of Mr Petit restaurant in Old Eldon Square.
Craft beer lovers can raise a crafty pint within its environs - all stripped-back walls and lots of wood and stone - and nobody would know they were there. Except their fellow boozers of course.
Once you're in, look out for its upturned beer barrel-style lighting. And its outdoor beer garden extension at the back comes as a real surprise. See here.
No 28
A perfect, and very chic, companion to pair up on a secret pub crawl with the Blues & Bourbon, this bar is positioned directly above it - up a flight of stairs this time - where its upstairs windows overlook Nelson Street where customers can people-watch without being seen: literally - nobody ever looks up.
If they did they'd spot signs of its foliage and floral decor which create a little haven for those enjoying the likes of bottomless brunches and food from Zucchini's.
Its website, making mention of its "hidden away staircase, tucked inside the entrance to the Grainger Market" says it is "affectionately known as Newcastle city centre’s finest hidden gem" but adds that it is no way under the radar. Read more about what's on offer here.
Hop Secret
Perfect for anyone who might be looking for a sneaky excuse for a pint, this little hideaway is built into the back of a corner shop in Gosforth so you could easily combine a visit with a swift shopping trip.
From an idea which took shape during the shop's closure during lockdown, Coopers at Gosforth, in Princes Road, is now inviting customers to stumble upon its new addition which reveals itself in a row of taps on the shop's far wall, past the fresh fruit and vegetables.
Then further along a corridor which ends with what looks like a fridge lies a set of doors which open to reveal an outside seating area and two more rooms with more seating where guests can enjoy such treats as a pint and a pizza. See here.
Archie's Lab
We're not talking Colonel Porter's Emporium here but not the main below-ground bar on the corner of Dean Street. There's a secret room within it.
Colonel Porter's - named after the man who created Newcastle Brown Ale in 1927 - has a concealed 'speak-easy' inside which is a surprise find behind a fake bookcase. Seek it out.
It's here - so goes its story - that Colonel Porter and his chief chemist Archie concocted the famous brew.
Find out more about Colonel Porter's here.
The Poison Cabinet
A "true speakeasy vibe and stunning unique cocktails" is promised at this hidden den which is below the popular Intermezzo bar in Pilgrim Street.
It's a sister bar to Ray’z - also in the basement - and as it says on its Facebook page "deep in the depths of Intermezzo, there is a dark secret".
The Poison Cabinet reveals it lies behind "a small wooden door bound in iron", adding: "Only those that dare venture in will reap the benefits." And those benefits include some intriguing-sounding cocktails, which around Halloween included a Fool's Gold which came with a hidden treat inside it.
Mother Mercy
In another case of what lies beneath, the historic city pub The Old George also conceals a secret beneath the Cloth Market cobbles.
This underground bar opened in 2019 - and has just been named one of the best cocktail bars in the UK - but the masses enjoying the city's more raucous night life wouldn't have a clue about this chilled out wine and cocktail refuge in their midst.
It's found by going into the Old George Yard, which lies through the alley between the Beehive pub and Pumphreys, where there's a blue door which leads into the contemporary cocktail hideway.
Discover all its secrets here.
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