Billingham Rugby Club in Stockton-on-Tees

Nice pub with plenty of seating and a very friendly and chatty member of staff behind the bar. Some beers on cask.

I normally nip in here for a few when I go to the shops or am passing by and fancy a sneaky beer or 2. Decent bar, bit expensive. I was excited when I saw they had Guinness on, as it's 5 min from where I am - however, it was a bang average pint, it even tasted a bit sharp and bitter, not sure what that was from, but at £6,20 a pint, that is robbery. Guinness is my "go to" , and I'd consider paying that, if I were getting the same quality as in Ireland, but it was miles away. There were also a couple of folk the other night on the sniff and created a bit if an awkward atmosphere, not sure I'll rush back now. I will say all the staff are very good though.

Lovely lunch on Boxing Day - our server Julie was excellent! Salad was amazing and my Mam enjoyed the turkey. Will be back.

Without exception the worst Christmas Day lunch we’ve had. I can appreciate businesses, especially fledgling businesses, are under a lot of stress at this time of year and would expect planning for most eventualities would have been undertaken. Therefore when a couple of staff members phone in sick it should not impact as much as it did, with the owner dashing around doing front of house, getting bread, starters & desserts out. His wife & 1 other doing everything in the kitchen and carving meat on the carvery, 1 collecting finished plates and 1 young lad on the bar. It was chaos. A lot of customers weren’t happy, but I tended to reserve judgement until food was served. My husbands starter of fish chowder was congealed and cold. I had what should have been creamy veg soup with croutons and fresh herbs…. What I got was a tomato based soup with no croutons and a large spoon of dried herbs on top. Main was standard carvery of turkey or beef, both dry with a lot of the veg tinned, sloppy or burnt. Christmas pudding was like charcoal with the smallest amount of sauce. The waiting times before and between courses was quite bad and just gave us time to discuss the poor decor, mismatched table/chair decs and the fact that my Mother was no longer the worst Christmas Day lunch.

Only discovered this place by accident. An oasis, with great food and drinks 👌