A Taste Of Home in County Durham

Food was great, so was the service !

After having been closed for a couple of years the pub is now due to re-open on the 31st October 2024. Greene King are saying that the re-opened pub will revert to it's former name of 'The Sportsman's Arms' (in recent years it had been named 'The Belmont'). I've given a three star (average) review as I haven't a clue yet what the pub will be like - I just thought it might be useful to post that it is re-opening soon but I can't work out how to post without giving a rating. I'm hoping to return with a five-star review soon!!

Great coffee shop, nice coffee and very friendly and helpful staff

Three of us called in for a coffee, 20mins after placing our order went to the counter to see if there was a problem to be told rather abruptly that our order hadn't been started because we were supposed to let them know we were ready for it...strange, never had this issue before. After 5 mins or so we were called up to collect our order but only one coffee was ready, minutes later we were called again for the second coffee, then called back again for the third coffee and one prepacked sandwich, then after another few minutes called back up for the fourth time to get the toastie. This seemed to be the case with everyone having their names bellowed across the floor for each item of their order. A little bizarre, surely easier to put everything together for one collection??? For some reason, our coffees came in paper cups instead of mugs even though we were sitting in, and the toastie came on a plate. Unfortunately, grandma had a mishap with the paper cup and the tall coffee spilt all over her and the floor, which would never have happened if she'd had the proper cup in the first place. Anyway, we ran up and asked for a cloth or blue roll, etc, so we could clean up to be told we should just use the napkin dispenser. Almost 20 napkins later there's still coffee everywhere and now a soggy pile of napkins on the table too, the place wasn't busy but no help offered whatsoever, even had to go and get a wet floor sign ourselves. None of the tables weren't being cleared or cleaned we also had to do that too when we arrived. Sandwich and toastie were not nice at all. Both had a very strange taste and were left. The surviving coffees were fine, but this was our second time to this site and both visits were terrible with zero customer service. we won't make the mistake a third time.

Lovely birthday treat. Food is great. A bit noisy as it was very busy although that just shows it is very popular . Will be back