As Covid restrictions were lifted on May 17th to allow eating and drinking indoors, people headed down to the pubs in the Ouseburn valley to celebrate as they reopened their inside spaces for the first time in several months.
Both bar staff and visitors had been eagerly awaiting the rule change.
The first customers to head inside at opening time were there to mark all sorts of occasions. “We had an exam this morning, so it’s a bit of a celebration,” one student having a drink at Brinkburn Street Brewery Bar explained. “It’s lovely to not be in the cold, and be warm for once while having a drink!”
And restrictions had been lifted on the perfect day for a customer over at The Tyne Bar. “We’ve come into town from where we live in Cramlington, to have a few drinks and celebrate my birthday,” he told us.
It wasn’t just locals who were enjoying a pint - one group had even travelled all the way from Manchester to visit some of Newcastle’s best pubs. “When you think where you’re going to go for a drink the first day the pubs are open, our initial reaction was to go to Newcastle,” one of the visitors said. “What a way to come out of lockdown!”
Watch our video above to see more of the Ouseburn pubs reopening.
