The Durham Craft Beer Trail: Five Stops, Honestly Scored

I’ve been drinking in Durham for twenty years and it took me most of them to work out what I actually liked. That story’s here, and I’d read it first if you want to know why I score things the way I do.

This is the city version. Five places you can walk between in an afternoon, in the order that makes geographic sense, each scored out of ten for the beer.

A word on the scores. They measure how well the beer is kept and how good the range is and how much I like it — nothing else. A pub can be excellent and still score modestly here; it just means you should go and check for yourself what’s in the pint. Where I’m out of step with everyone else I’ll say so, and I have been at least once on this list.

The whole route is about two miles. There are two hills and they’re both real. If you want to eat before you start, Whitechurch does the best sandwich in the city — one beer on, mind, so it’s breakfast rather than a stop.

1. The Station House — 10/10

The Station House is a wedge-shaped micropub jammed under the railway viaduct on North Road, opened in 2015 by CAMRA members, and it is the best beer in Durham. Not “one of the best.” The best.

Four cask beers on at a time, chosen with a plan rather than whatever the wholesaler was pushing: usually a couple of pales or IPAs, a bitter, and a porter or stout, so three or four styles are always covered. The board turns over every few days. Certain beers come back because people ask for them — Ossett’s White Rat is a regular, and they’ve had Durham Brewery on plenty of times, Magus through to the porters. Check their Facebook for what’s on.

The reason it all tastes right is unglamorous: they’ve got a proper racking system in a cold room and they serve you through a hatch straight out of it. I can’t imagine working in there. Nobody behind the hatch seems to mind.

Alongside the cask there’s a handful of keg lines — a lager, always an IPA or pale, sometimes two — plus at least four proper craft ciders in boxes, also kept cold. Spirits behind the bar and a fridge of cans and bottles if you want something else entirely.

The cheapest pub with craft beer in Durham, roughly £4.50 to £5.50 a pint. Hill Island is £4, but Hill Island is a brewery, not a pub. For comparison, a cask pint at The Court across town is £6.50. They’ll give you a taster, or two, without ever making it awkward.

Layout: bench tables by the hatch seating a dozen a side, a few steps down to a smaller room with four tables, and an upstairs with another six or so. It fills up at weekends and is rammed for their beer and cider festivals, which run two or three times a year. Midweek there’s always somebody in.

No food beyond crisps and pork pies — but there are takeaways directly opposite and you’re welcome to bring it in. Dogs yes, wi-fi yes, and there’s a live train departure board on the wall, which tells you what kind of pub it is.

They’ve won North East regional or city Pub of the Year almost every year since opening, and were runner-up in the national CAMRA Pub of the Year in 2022, putting them in the top four in the country.

Verdict: We live seven miles out and this was our local for years. Not for want of anything closer — because of the beer.

2. The Holy GrAle — 10/10 on keg, 6/10 on cask

Up the hill from the cobbles to Crossgate. It’s only about 200 metres but it’s a proper climb if you come up from the Market Place, and if you’re not fit you’ll know about it. Much easier if you walk down from the Station House instead.

The Holy GrAle isn’t a traditional pub — it’s a micropub, fitted out in wooden planks and mismatched furniture and everything points at the beer.

Twelve keg taps, two handpulls, four craft ciders in boxes, and four fridges of cans and bottles sorted by style — one for stouts, one for IPAs, and one very nearly given over to Durham Brewery. For someone who likes beer, it’s the deepest range in the city.

Two blackboards. The left one changes constantly, usually eight beers, never the same twice. The right one is the fixtures: Weihenstephaner if you want a German wheat beer, a Dortmund-style lager, and Kirkstall Cherry beer, which is Olesia’s regular and my fallback when the changing board hasn’t got anything I fancy.

They lean local — Two By Two from Newcastle turns up often — and they always seem to have Vault City on. If you’re into sours, Vault City is the gold standard; I’ve been to their place in Edinburgh and the quality is obvious even though the style isn’t mine. On my last visit they had three of them on, including a 7% tropical sour and an Imperial Peach & Apricot. There was also a Left Handed Giant and Two Flints collaboration called Blancmange at 6.8%.

Ciders rotate properly. Two Sandford Orchards were on last time — box cider, not the cheap stuff — and a few months back they had a run of Hogans. The French Revelation was so good that my wife bought me a ten-litre box of it.

Here’s the honest bit. The cask has never impressed me. On my last visit it was Allendale Pennine Pale and a Two By Two — I think an Azacca Mosaic pale — and as with every other time I’ve tried the cask here, it just hasn’t tasted as fresh as the keg. Set it against the Station House and the gap is obvious. Stick to keg and you’ll have a great afternoon.

Prices: cask is £5.50 to £6.30, which is the standard range on the board and is fair for what you get. Keg runs higher, up to about £10, and some of the Vault City beers go beyond that. Most of what’s on is 4–6%, so the top end isn’t about strength.

The basement is where the extra seating goes when it’s busy, and it’s a bit musty down there. Upstairs is better, and you can sit on the bench out front on the street. Sundays they put out free cheese, biscuits and cold meats. Dogs welcome.

And the room itself earns the ten as much as the keg does. It has more atmosphere every time we go, and in the evenings it’s properly lively — the sort of place where you end up talking to whoever’s next to you. There’s often live acoustic music on Sunday evenings. Not always to my taste, but always worth staying for.

Verdict: The deepest range in the city and the best room to drink it in. Stay on keg and it is a ten.

Next door is The Angel — a completely different proposition, covered in the next post.

3. Ye Old Elm Tree — 8/10, and this is where I’m outvoted

About twenty metres away, on the other side of Crossgate. The house numbers don’t help you here — so just cross over and look for it.

Ye Old Elm Tree dates to the 1600s and is one of the oldest inns in the city. The Victoria Inn has the better-preserved interior; this one has the older building.

It’s been CAMRA Durham City Pub of the Year in both 2023 and 2024. In the 2023 vote it came first, the Station House second and the Victoria Inn third — which, since I’ve just given the Station House a ten, tells you my scores are one bloke’s and the branch sees it differently. Worth knowing before you take my word for anything.

About five keg taps plus a number of handpulls, and they’re bringing in fresh beers from craft breweries every week — check their Facebook for what’s on. It’s also one of the few pubs in Durham with Durham Brewery on regularly, which counts for a lot with me.

So why 8 and not higher? One small thing: a cider Olesia had on our most recent visit didn’t taste as fresh as it should have — a bit of an off flavour. One drink on one day, and the beer was fine — but it’s the sort of detail that separates an 8 from a 9 when the Station House never puts a foot wrong.

Everything else is good. Nicely decorated traditional pub with a fireplace and a stone wall that shows the age of the building. There’s a properly decorated outdoor garden — spacious, light and fresh, and better than most city-centre pub yards. Pub quiz every Wednesday from 9pm, which I’ve never done, so judge that yourself. Acoustic acts on now and then. Big matches on the screens sometimes. Dogs welcome.

Verdict: The oldest room on the trail and the best garden. Check the board before you settle in — when the good stuff is on, it is very good.

4. Hill Island Brewery — 8/10, but only on the right Saturday

Down in Fowler’s Yard on the riverbank below Silver Street, and the only brewery in the middle of the city. One bloke, one small plant, going since 2002, selling nowhere but his own bar on the first, second and fourth Saturday of the month.

Every batch is different. Check their Facebook page the morning you go, not the week before, because the schedule moves.

I’ve written about Hill Island properly in the brewery posts — including why the name is the best thing about it — so I’ll leave it there. If your trail lands on the right Saturday, it’s the most Durham stop on the list. If it doesn’t, don’t waste the walk down the steps.

Why 8 and not higher: nothing to do with the beer, which is excellent. It’s the opening. Three Saturdays a month is a narrow window to begin with, and even then the times aren’t reliable — the schedule moves and it isn’t always posted in advance. You can’t plan a trail around a place that might not be open, so it loses two marks for something that has nothing to do with what’s in the pint.

Verdict: The most Durham stop on the list, if you can catch it open.

5. The Victoria Inn — 8/10

Finish here, about 300 metres up from the pedestrian area on Hallgarth Street. This is the one you’ll remember.

The Victoria Inn was built in 1899 by the Newcastle architect Joseph Oswald and has barely been touched since. It’s Grade II listed and carries a Silver Star listing on CAMRA’s National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors — the short list of British pub interiors that have genuinely survived intact. The wallpaper looks a hundred years old because it is that old, and it’s kept that way deliberately.

Three rooms downstairs: the main bar, a smaller room to the right with its own servery, and an old sitting room at the back with a fireplace and six or eight tables, which you reach by walking through the bar — they’ll wave you through. Coal fires, a Victorian cash drawer still in place, cut-glass window screens advertising Bass Ales, and a working bell box on the wall from when there was table service. The old ceramic spirit dispensers are still behind the bar — decorative now, but they’re the real ones.

There’s a small courtyard outside too, which is a pleasant surprise given how tight the building is. Dogs are fine.

It’s also a hotel, which is worth knowing if you want somewhere quirky and cheaper than the chains.

The beer isn’t an afterthought. Handpulls plus keg, and the range genuinely changes — I’ve never noticed a fixed lineup. On my last visit: Northern Pale from Hadrian Border, a best bitter, a Grainger Ale, and Tar Barl stout from Allendale in Hexham. I had the Northern Pale and it was very good. Allendale are reliable generally — their Pennine Pale is the one I’d point you at. There’s Neck Oil on tap, ciders, Guinness, a well-stocked spirits shelf and bottles for people who want something modern.

Prices: reasonable. Not quite Station House cheap, but not far off.

Why 8 and not higher: the choice. What’s on is well kept and the range does change, but it’s a small craft selection next to the Holy GrAle’s twelve taps or the Station House’s four rotating casks. You come here for the room first and the beer second — and the beer is good enough that you won’t mind.

Locals and tourists, always a crowd, always welcoming. Verdict: go for the room, stay for a genuinely well-kept pint.

After you finish: The Waiting Room

The Waiting Room sits on Platform 2 at Durham railway station, in the restored Grade II listed former ladies’ first-class waiting room, which dates to 1872.

Two or three craft beers on. If you’ve arrived by train it’s your first pint before you walk down the bank to the Station House; if you’re heading home it’s your last one before the train. Platform 2 is the northbound side; from Platform 1 it’s a three or four minute walk across.

The scores, short version

Stop	Score	Go for
The Station House	10/10	The best-kept beer in Durham, and the cheapest pub with craft beer in the city
The Holy GrAle	10/10 keg · 6/10 cask	Twelve taps, the deepest range in the city, and the best room
Ye Old Elm Tree	8/10	A 1600s room, CAMRA’s city champion two years running
The Victoria Inn	8/10	An 1899 interior that survived — small craft range, well kept
Hill Island	8/10	The city’s only brewery — but only on the right Saturday

If you’ve only got one afternoon: Station House, Holy GrAle, Victoria. If you’ve got a Saturday, add Hill Island.

Our picks, our scores

These are places we’ve been to and paid for ourselves. We have no arrangement with any venue and we don’t take free drinks for coverage. The scores are one household’s opinion, not an official ranking — CAMRA’s Durham branch doesn’t always agree with us, and neither might you.

Beer moves, too. Cellars change hands, ranges rotate, good pubs have off days. If you find something’s changed, tell us and we’ll go and check.

Addresses

The Station House — North Road, Durham, DH1 4SE. No official website; listed on WhatPub. Under the railway viaduct, about three minutes’ walk down from the station.

The Holy GrAle — 57 Crossgate, Durham, DH1 4PR. Tel 0191 386 3851. Facebook. Closed Monday and Tuesday; Wed–Thu 3pm–11pm; Fri–Sun 12pm–11pm.

Ye Old Elm Tree — 12 Crossgate, Durham, DH1 4PS. Quiz Wednesdays from 9pm.

Hill Island Brewery — 7 Fowler’s Yard, Back Silver Street, Durham, DH1 3RA. Facebook. First, second and fourth Saturday of the month.

The Victoria Inn — 86 Hallgarth Street, Durham, DH1 3AS. Their own website is offline at the time of writing; listed on CAMRA. Rooms available.

The Waiting Room — Platform 2, Durham Railway Station, DH1 4RB.

Before you go

• Two hills. Crossgate and Hallgarth Street. Neither is long, both are steep.
• The Holy GrAle is shut Mondays and Tuesdays. Most of the trail works midweek; this bit doesn’t.
• Hill Island is Saturdays only — first, second and fourth. Check Facebook that morning.
• The Station House does no food beyond crisps and pork pies — but you’re welcome to bring in a takeaway from directly opposite. Eat before you start, or plan around it.