The County Durham Brewery Trail, Rated Honestly
If you read the last one, you know how I got here: thirty years of drinking beer without knowing what I actually liked, then two Durham breweries sorting it out for me.
Now that I’ve worked out my own settings, here’s the trail. Five breweries, all within a reasonable drive of Durham, all doing something different. Not all of them are for me — and I’d rather say that than pretend everything’s excellent. A guide where everything scores well isn’t a guide, it’s a leaflet.
One thing before you set off: none of these are city-centre operations except the first. This is a car-and-a-designated-driver trail, or a very patient bus day. Plan accordingly.
1. Hill Island Brewery — the one that started it
One bloke, one small plant, down in Fowler’s Yard on the riverbank below Silver Street, Durham. Hill Island has been going since 2002 and isn’t a commercial operation in any real sense — he sells from his own place and nowhere else. No shops, no wholesale. First, second and fourth Saturday of the month is your window, and even then, check Facebook first.
Every batch is different. Last time it was something infused with lemongrass and ginger — sweet, bitter, tangy, dangerously drinkable. This is the beer that made me care about flavour instead of just getting through a pint sociably.
Verdict: Worth planning a Saturday around. The most Durham thing in Durham, and the name is a translation of the city’s own.
2. Durham Brewery — the benchmark
A few miles south of the city at Bowburn. Durham Brewery started in 1994 and is now the oldest working brewery in the county — seventy-plus awards, a ten-barrel plant, and a range of about ten beers on rotation. Pale ales through bitters, stouts, chocolate porters, and one memorable Turkish delight effort. No idea how they land half of what they attempt. It just works.
This has been my regular for fifteen-plus years and I’d still put it up against anywhere in the country. Taproom Friday evenings and Saturday afternoons, ten taps, usually six or seven pouring. My order is Magus — 3.8%, gluten-free, perfectly balanced pale ale. Took me a decade and a half to work out it wasn’t an IPA.
Olesia heads for the dark end: the Rum and Raisin milk stout at 5.6%, or Dray Wheels, a 5.6% jammy biscuit milk stout. Though this July they had a go at a blackcurrant sour called Currant Chaos, 5%, for their 32nd birthday party, and that is her new favourite.
They run tours and tasting sessions too — about an hour and a half, a few samples, and a Q&A with head brewer Elly at the end. There are more events through the year now as well: Friday evenings like bike night or American car night, Saturdays like the Halloween party, usually with a food van and sometimes a live band. Their Facebook page, The Durham Brewery LTD, is where that gets announced.
Verdict: Still the one. If you only do one stop, do this one.
3. Yard of Ale @ The Surtees Arms, Ferryhill — respect, not for me
Full marks for what they’ve built and none from me for the beer, which is a distinction I want to be clear about.
The Surtees Arms was built in 1872 for the colliery workers the village grew up around, and the Yard of Ale Brewery was added behind it in 2008. What it’s become since is a genuine community pub in a village that could easily have lost one — the kind of quiet closure that’s been hollowing out northeast villages for twenty years. CAMRA agrees: it’s been named Durham County Pub of the Year eight times, most recently for 2026.
Prices are fair, sometimes cheaper than the commercial stuff. Good atmosphere, good crowd.
The beer itself has a woody character that just isn’t for me. That’s a flavour-profile thing, not a quality complaint — the awards cabinet says plenty of people disagree with me, and they’re not wrong, we’re just calibrated differently.
Verdict: Go for the pub. Judge the beer yourself. And go soon — at the time of writing the pub and brewery are on the market, so the people behind the bar may not be the same by the time you get there.
4. Consett Ale Works @ The Grey Horse — good beer, different lane
About ten miles northwest. Consett Ale Works is a four-barrel plant tucked behind The Grey Horse, which dates back to 1848, was originally called the Target Inn, and is the oldest pub in Consett. There’s been brewing on the site since 1997 under one name or another; the current operation has been running since the mid-2000s.
The branding is all steelworks — Steeltown Bitter, Red Dust Ruby Ale, White Hot Ale — named for the works that dominated the town until it closed in 1980 and took the local economy with it. It’s a nice piece of remembering, and the beer backs it up: traditional British styles, proper bitters, full-bodied ales, a solid IPA, a golden ale. The pub took North East Regional Pub of the Year in both 2019 and 2023, which is not an accident.
Not really my flavour lane, but the quality is undeniable, and the pub has that thing where the staff know everyone and everyone’s happy to be there. The locals only go quiet when the football’s on.
Verdict: Best pub on the list. Beer’s very good, just not aimed at me.
5. Weard’Ale Brewery @ The Hare and Hounds — the furthest one out
Out past Frosterley and Stanhope, up towards the old lead mining country — proper Durham Dales territory, and the drive alone is worth something. The Hare and Hounds sits on Front Street in Westgate with the river behind it.
Weard’Ale is a one-man operation again, brewing in the pub cellar since late 2010. Wide range of styles, all named with the kind of pub humour you’d expect — Hare of the Dog, Bitter and Twisty, Top Dog. Good home-cooked food alongside it. Quality’s reasonable but nothing here has ever come close to knocking Durham Brewery off the top spot for me.
Verdict: Worth the drive if you’re already out that way. Wouldn’t make it the whole reason for the trip — though if you’re doing Killhope or the Dales anyway, it’s the obvious stop.
The verdict
Durham Brewery is still the one. Hill Island is the sentimental favourite for what it taught me.
The other three I’d send you to for what they represent as much as what’s in the pint — pubs that could have closed and didn’t, in villages that have lost plenty else. The beer isn’t always where my palate lands. The buildings are still open, which on the current run rate for northeast pubs is the more impressive achievement.
Before you go
- Driving is basically required for stops 2–5. Sort a designated driver or plan an overnight.
- Hill Island’s Saturdays move. Check Facebook the morning of, not the week before.
- Durham Brewery is closed Mondays and the taproom only opens Friday evening and Saturday afternoon — the shop is open more often than the bar.
- The Surtees Arms is on the market. Ownership and hours may change.
Addresses
Hill Island Brewery
7 Fowler’s Yard, Back Silver Street, Durham DH1 3RA
No official website; updates via Facebook. Open first, second and fourth Saturday of the month.
Durham Brewery
Unit 6a, Bowburn North Industrial Estate, Bowburn, County Durham DH6 5PF
durhambrewery.com
Taproom Fri 5–9pm, Sat 2–9pm. Shop Tue–Fri 9am–4pm. Closed Mondays.
Yard of Ale @ The Surtees Arms
Chilton Lane, Ferryhill Station, County Durham DL17 0DH
thesurteesarms.co.uk · yardofalebrewery.co.uk
Tel 01740 655933. Check hours before travelling — the business is currently for sale.
Consett Ale Works @ The Grey Horse
115 Sherburn Terrace, Consett, County Durham DH8 6NE
Consett Ale Works on Facebook
Tel 01207 502585. Beer festivals twice a year; quiz on Wednesdays, open mic on Sundays.
Weard’Ale Brewery @ The Hare and Hounds
24 Front Street, Westgate, Bishop Auckland, County Durham DL13 1RX
weardale.uk/hare-and-hounds
If you’re making a day of Durham rather than a drive of the county, Olesia’s written the city itself up — Durham Cathedral and Castle and Durham’s Old Streets. Flat shoes, apparently.
Next in this series: Newcastle. Which, and I say this as a Durham man, is one of the best beer cities in the country.
Doing the trail yourself? Subscribe to the newsletter and get the free one-page County Durham Brewery Trail — five breweries with opening windows, prices and honest verdicts — including the ones that are not for Ian. One email per trip, no spam.
