Welcome to the historic Blackfriars Restaurant, the time-honoured traditional British restaurant in the heart of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and the oldest dining room in the UK.

Hooksters
Hooksters Heroes

Every now and again, on our ongoing quest to find all things local and seasonal, we find a real gem which we sometimes decide to write about – and believe me, we were doing this long before the great Rick Stein filmed his similarly titled series!

Please find below a rather irreverent view of some of our favourite people – and if you have a secret hero yourself then be sure to let us know!

George is no Payne, he's a butcher

‘I would travel through time and space, just to have a butchers at your face’ wrote Robyn Hitchcock ...
 

Brighton Oriental Food Store

It’s hard to imagine why anyone would want to buy those miniscule and overpriced sachets of spices f...
 

North Shields Fish Quay

To some it's a horrible old smelly place but to me it's one of the most invigorating, stiring and be...
 

The venerable Mrs Hook and her famous tomato chutney

Saturday morning and I’m up early to head over to one of my favourite markets – the grade I listed G...
 

Ben & Amy's Organic Festival Wines

I first met Amy back in the autumn of 2002 when she came to work at Blackfriars as our restaurant ma...