I made a welcome return to the North East the other week to catch up with family and managed to spend a day sampling some of the area's wonderful beers. Here are my recollections.... The last time I had been to Newcastle was way back in July 2020. Like most people, I haven't ventured very far over the subsequent months and so the two hour journey was felt like a proper odyssey, punctuated by a higher than I remember percentage of idiot drivers. I reached my hotel on the Quayside, dropped off the car and bag, and headed into the city centre to get the metro. Walking up Side, many more places were open - though not the Crown Posada, unfortunately - than on my last visit. A carpet of artificial grass and seating and tables lined much of Grey Street as I made my way to Monument, giving the city centre a real buzz in the warm lunchtime sunshine. The place was coming back to life. I had decided I would check out a new micro pub that had opened up at North Shields since I had visited