The High Main in Newcastle upon Tyne

value for money both for food and drink

Great service and a nice pint of cheap strong ale, goodie gumdrops!

I was asked to leave while I was waiting for my friend who went to order the food and the staff was so rude.

UPDATE 24.03.24. This joint is still the epitomé of Shields Road sophistication. My eons old review below stands 100%. You might not like it's owner for political issues, but the beer quality (I haven't eaten in a 'spoons for ages) is consistently 99% I feel. The beer choice and availability for the ale heads is questionable I hear, however. I have sampled both beers and food countless times here. Typical Wetherspoons offerings, but that's not to knock some great drinks at an even better price, steady grub plus I've never been poured a duff pint yet. Sure, it's on Shields Road and there are occasional 'characters' in, but I've witnessed said characters thrown out without hesitation when their craic hasn't been appropriate, so there is a level of respect within the place still. A big screen for sports would be awesome here in my opinion, but that's probably not what this pub group is about. Plenty of seating is available plus there is a reasonably sheltered outdoor seating area in which to smoke, or catch the limited UV rays in what summer time we have.

Basic food at reasonable prices. We like to sit in the booth area.

Had a large breakfast, very nice, clientele was very different some proper weirdos but it was expected being in byker.

Ordered 2 mixed grills £30.48 with drinks. Plates stone cold and tomatoes cold . Mushroom ice cold .chips under cooked. Chicken and gammon like leather and steak was cutting through ply wood .peppers corn sauce cold best thing on plate a Luke warm sausage.Never again

Cheap as chips and always a warm peaceful place

Building is huge, Fish n chips, yes cheap but I'd rather pay more for better food. Pure sloppy mushy peas, fish as flat as a cheese single. Great for drinks food not so nice apart from the pizzas

If you want a quick meal and a pint this is the best place to go. We nip in with the family as a treat now and again.

Qualify value for money food and drink. Great customer service, too.

Reliable 'spoons, simple, long layout with lots of windows so quite pleasant and an oasis of decent beer on Shields Road.

Like all witherspoons polite staff good service no hassle

Food came it was cold sent it back by the time 2nd one came back all my family finished there food milk was off for the tea tables need a good clean toilet need a deep clean won't be going back

Went in for a coffee. Free refills, which is great and good buzz about the pub.

Food was canny, you know what your getting in a Spoons, busy lplace.

Had a lovely time with my friends. The food was lovely. I enjoyed it. I will be back soon.

Good prices but another of dirty tables left about

Nice little place, meet there every week for coffee with friends, very helpful and friendly

Can't beat a wetherspoons breakfast on a Sunday morning to help you get over you Saturday night 😄😄

Allows smoking in the 'no smoking area', under the canopy at the exit to the beer garden. The inside of the pub now reeks. Gross.

Lovely decor and super quick and friendly service despite being very busy. A great reuse of an old building.

Top service cheap drinks and a great building to drink in.

I enjoy Weatherspoons, went for breakfast always good value for money lovely way to start the day

Been in a few times for food and drink really nice friendly staff foods ok be good if you got a bit more for your money not bad at all for Byker

Iv just had a larger breakfast.the service was really good. Nice smiling happy to help staff.not been here in a while though but I will most definitely be coming bk again soon.

Good atmosphere..lovely bottle of pino grizio.

The go to place for breakfast,,good portion and well worth the money

Standard spoons food and drink.server was a bit miserable though 😕

I have been to many a Wethetspoon, and this ticks all the usual boxes. However, the staff seem to lack manners. The lay out of the pub means it's like the A1(M) southbound motorway, with no chance of changing lane. So when there is incoming traffic, you kind hold have to budge in-between two tables to let them pass, and when that is unthankful staff.... I cannot therefore see my way to give it five stars.

Lovely jubbly, coffee prices are £1.02 per cup, unlimited, traditional breakfast around £3.19 or so, good quality food, pub was on the quiet side, however a pleasure to enjoy, not the first time here for me, regularly call in, whilst in the area.

Love to pop in to Wetherspoons Byker while in the area. The large traditional breakfast is excellent value and sets you up for the day. The Lavzazza coffee for £1.50 with unlimited top up is also great value. There is often good beer festivals on with a large selection of cask beers. Plenty of other cheep drink options. Byker is definitely one of the best Wetherspoons in the Northeast.

Most weatherspoons can only score half way. The service was average and on this occasion i am being polite with 3 stars. They looked at a group of lads and the service was really poor. The food is basic and quite bland, the inside was worn and old in need of an upgrade

Typical 'spoons. Staff look sick and place smells of depression.

A high street Spoons that even has its toilets on the ground floor! Lack of choice this morning as some of the lines are being cleaned but the end result is better 🍺👍🏻

Decent Spoons. Black Dragon, food piping hot and nice service

Visited here last Sat, food was lovely and drinks reasonably priced

First impression is poor,dark interior, most of the tables hadn't been cleared of dirty dishes etc,. We ended up clearing one to be able to sit, found a napkin to clean it. When we asked for the breakfast they only do scrambled or omelette, they said they don't serve fried or poached eggs? I've got to be honest it is good value for money, but mine was barely warm as well as one of my friends. They don't seem to have enough to staff to clear tables quickly enough. We went about 11.40am. I certainly won't be back.

Got a large drink with my meal, barmaid filled the glass entirely with ice before adding the drink. I think I will have received possibly 1/4 the capacity of the glass. Serving drinks like this is a complete scam.

Good pub on a busy street but a cheerful atmosphere with helpful staff. Thanks 😊

Just popped in for a pint. Quiet atmosphere. Good service. Nice beers at decent prices. What's not to like?

Nice and quiet this morning for breakfast today.

You get what you pay for but good value for money.

A nice pub. Served very well by Steph and the food was delivered by Eden, a lovely lady who couldn't do enough to make sure that we were looked after well. A great visit and would be glad to return any time. Well done.

Absolutely incredible ! Food was quick and tasty and service delightful

As usual another great day out food and drinks great price at Weather spoons .

Awesome spoons first time in this one lovely halloumi burger very nice

Good for quick meals and good price drinks... Different nights have different food themes and offers deals

Great food and brilliant staff Had a meal with friends but only one issue that they made chicken bbq burger instead of beef bbq burger.

Amazing value and good quality food too.

It’s a spoons. What do you expect like?

Here we have another review, I have been here on a good few occasions and have found it quite pleasant. This establishment has a high rate of regulars and are of the older generation, the one thing that I have noticed over a short time, is that when you walk in and approach the bar, there will be no doubt that a regular will walk up to bar after you and get served 1st, this is not a good thing when the staff member see you and serves him before you. Apart from this the food is good, the premises are clean. However I do have one other problem with here, yes they do have a disabled toilet facility BUT ! the door is constantly left open, that means any 1 can use it, I find this wrong as I have seen an elderly person with obvious disabilities having to wait for a well abled person to strut out,making them wait all because they did not want to walk along the pub to the loo at the bottom? Yes I do understand that not all disabilities are visible, but surely if a person is disabled for any reason then the one thing they would have is a key(like I do)

I went to this restaurant (around byker) to order a pineaple drink. The waiter mentioned that the drink is alcholic so I needed to show an ID card. I then requested for pineaple juice. Five mins after receiving my request, a waiter asked me to leave the restaurant because it's 9pm and I do not have an ID. Interetingly, this rule applied to only me. I was totally shocked. Well, I told the waiter that I have a soft copy of my ID on my mobile phone but he insisted that he needed the physical ID. A lot of questions run through my mind. 1. My friends, who preordered, were served with alcholic drinks without they being asked to show any ID. So why was I treated differently? 2. My friends and all other people in the restaurant were not asked to show an ID to enable them stay in the restaurant after 9pm. Why was I treated differently? 3. How could a waiter look at a matured person like me, working here in the UK and conclude that I am under age but couldn't reach the same conclusion for all other persons including my friends who were even younger than me. 4. If an ID was required to guarantee my stay in the restaurant after 9pm, then why was this not inspected at the entrance and applicable to everyone. I was really disturbed and I felt discriminated. My friends then mentioned that perhaps I am being treated this way because I am black. I thought about this throughout the night and I had to reach the same conclusion. We are in 21st century and such inappropriate treatment should not be encouraged. Thank you

Dishes never get cleared staff walk by and it stays on the table very good prices on drinks this bar needs tender loving care

Whilst ordinary looking from the outside, it was an absolute gem inside. A lovely building with lots of features, friendly staff and a pleasant environment. A very enjoyable visit.

The High Main Pub is a great pub my twin brother Stephen and I decided to drop into as we were pub hopping around Byker ,a big Wetherspoon pub that was a great find. Named after a whisky, the pub is superb, typical Wetherspoon decor and furnishings, a solid wood serving bar dominates the main room, prints and photos adorn the walls and there's plenty of seating options spread throughout this pub both inside and outside in their courtyard out back, its a grand Wetherspoon pub to chill out in. We were here on a Monday afternoon, we grabbed a table were my brother went up the bar and ordered a fish & chips meal each and for our drinks gins ,gin & tonic was absolutely superb, so tasty, very refreshing on a hot afternoon, while sipping our gins our meals arrived and what a treat. A big fish,lightly battered, beautifully seasoned, chips were plentiful and delicious, just a really good,filling meal ,just what we needed, coupled with our gins made for a great dining experience in a cool Wetherspoon pub . After we finished our meal and 1st drink we ordered a real ale each, we both chose Sharps Brewery " Doom Bar " these were served in pristine condition, we took our ales outside and soaked up the sun while sipping our pale ale's which were absolutely delicious, a fitting finish to our visit to this great Wetherspoon pub. The High Main Pub is easy to locate along Sheilds Road. Opening hours are; Monday to Thursday, 8am till 11pm. Friday & Saturday, 8am till Midnight. Sunday, 8am till 11pm. A great Wetherspoon pub, most definitely well worth checking out if you're in the area.

Great as usual. Cook is amazing I did not catch her name but she is absolutely wonderful. Treats us extremely well when we visit. No salad in cold chicken wrap lol

Definitely one of the better Wetherspoons pubs and I've been to lots across the country. My regular dish is chicken burger and chips with a pint of Heineken & they deliver me a tasty burger with lots of chips and the condiements of my choice. The beer always tastes fresh & comes to a grand total of £6 you can't be robbed at that price. For desert it's usually mini cookie dough ice cream and nice slab of gooey cookie dough with creamy ice cream all for £1.99. I've always found this pub spotless & the toilets so clean you could eat your dinner off the floor. Thanks for being my local!

The High Main is a Wetherspoon pub in the Byker district of Newcastle that offer as all Wetherspoons offer a well priced food and drinks menu. Located on Shields road were there are a couple of pub's'this superb Wetherspoons pub doesn't look big from the Shields road entrance to this pub but once you enter its a massive pub with superb seating options and a typical Wetherspoon interior. With lots of interesting features throughout the pub interior relating to the local history of where the pub is situated and how it got its name (It's named after a malt whisky). We visited here in the afternoon and it was really busy in here but we managed to get a table and ordered a fish&chip meal and a gin and tonic and then had a superb ale from Sharp's brewery'the meal and drink's were superb and well priced. This is a decent local Wetherspoons pub in a busy area and well worth visiting and is a very easy pub to get to from Morrisons bus stop it's a short walk.(This is my first review of the High Main). Opening Hours. Monday-Thursday-08.00-23.00. Friday-Saturday-08.00-00.00. Sunday-08.00-23.00. Nearest Bus Stop. Morrisons bus stop.

Really gone down hill,ordered steak n chips literally a fatty piece of steak that could not be chewed n small handful of chips. x3 but honestly were still hungry plus staff just didn't seem to care. For the price we expected a little more .No stirrers either n last week they had no sugar.Little things like this keep customers happy n returning.i can honestly say we will not be returning until things have improved.!!!

Very surprised by this place. Have been to many spoons before. This one is a bit on the side of the road. Service super efficient ! Food delivered super quickly - drink on time. Waiting staff very efficient. Premises very clean and tidy

I never received any of my drinks. I ordered a Guinness and 3 shots of raspberry sambuca however they never brought them to my table. I then enquired where my drinks were and was accused of lying until I showed the receipt of my order. The staff were then rude and refused to bring my drinks claiming that they had brought them which they definitely hadn’t. Very unimpressive service from very rude people

Came in for breakfast with my housemates. They allowed us in without there being a table available for 5 people. We had to pull more chairs to the table and have it cleared and cleaned. Our food came all at separate times, and our drinks came when we were almost finished with our food. And there was no ketchup throughout the whole venue, and during breakfast times! Ridiculous! One of my flat mates went to the bar (after finishing food) to ask for her drink. Only for the drink to be sitting on the bar, watered down from the ice. When she had finished her drink she found a paper lid from a bottle in the bottom of her glass!!! They are severely understaffed... it felt like there was only one girl doing anything on the floor. I feel bad for the staff, they must be soo stressed, especially working at this time. No masks or visors were worn and social distancing was not followed.

Food was disgusting, service was so so slow, it's full of old scruffy men in pyjamas drinking £1.30 pints of dark beer , DONT GO

In the current situation I am absolutely gobsmacked at the state of the place. No-one and I mean no-one was cleaning tables. The food was mediocre at best. The place was very busy but had no control at all. We ended up leaving our food and drink. We won't be going back. How it's allowed to remain open is beyond me.

The standard of service at this establishment is beyond belief. Bar staff have no idea who is waiting to be served and serve anybody or someone they know before the poor customer who has been waiting ages. When you complain about service, they immediately threaten to have you removed. Go across the road and get better service.

I wonder what the policy is for staff regarding 'snakebite' ? one member of staff served me no problem, next time another staff refused to serve it ?

Great atmosphere, friendly staff, clean and tidy. Food is good value. Good choice of ales. Order from table is simple and quick.

We just arrived at the high main pub in byker to find they had no dark fruit cider and so slow to be served. It must be trial staff night get a grip.

Went to high main with my family and staff were very friendly and helpful.we had breakfast there and I must say it was very enjoyable.we went on a quiet morning so it wasn’t too busy.very relaxing and what more can I say.will be coming back again.prices were very good too

Good choices on the menu Pizza was fresh and hot. Had the chicken bbq pizza a few times and it’s a bit hit and miss, all depends on how busy they are

We are currently in westherspoons byker and ordered large mix grill. A big waste of money. I'm sure egg was a rubber 1 and mushroom mist have shrunk in the wash! Will NIT be back!

The selection of real ales was good, the ciders fai, although they did advertise Ols Rosey but never have any.The food was standard Wetherspoons, but came out cool and was soon chilled by the air conditioning in the ceilings.The staff were friendly, the atmosphere not bad.I spent 5 days in Byker, shame about the food it brought down an otherwise reasonable pub. I just found somewhere else to eat.

staff here are always excellent and attentive lots of personality and helpfulness, saturday was no exception even though it was incredibly busy they only made one mistake with one of my rounds but were quick friendly and polite about resolving the issue, which is more than can be said about some of the customers who seem to treat the staff as their personal whipping boys dont know how they put up with it!

El personal grosero y perezoso del bar que charla y hace cualquier otra cosa que se les ocurra en lugar de atender a los clientes con una velocidad razonable, ciertamente los sábados por la noche. El personal del bar sigue cambiando, pero el problema de actitud sigue siendo el mismo, por lo que debe depender de la gerencia. Voy a otro Wetherspoons cada semana y el personal allí es absolutamente bueno y generalmente encantador, así que es este pub específico el que tiene un problema. Si educadamente señala un error en el orden, afirman que es su culpa. Al mismo tiempo, son muy lentos para tomar medidas si hay clientes borrachos, ruidosos y agresivos, lo que parece suceder con bastante frecuencia, lo que perturba a todos los clientes pacíficos.

Así que, decepcionado, trabajo en todo el país y el filete semanal de Wetherspoons Tuesday siempre se mira hacia adelante también. ¿Qué puedo decir yo y el compañero lo pedimos medio raro, cuando nuestra comida salió fue literalmente fría como la piedra, así que volvimos. La comida volvió caliente esta vez, pero el bistec cocinado a fuego lento, calentaron los lados y pusieron nuevamente el bistec a la parrilla. Mala ejecución y mala respuesta. Me ofrecieron una bebida como medio de disculpa.

Enjoyed food and drink a couple of weeks ago....then drinks in the beer garden the other day excellent....decent disabled access and toilets too.

Llamado para un bocado para comer. Había muchas mesas vacías, pero no estaban limpias de otros clientes, así que solo tenía que sentarse junto a mucha gente. El personal no interactuó realmente con los clientes más que para darle su comida. La comida era buena y barata.

La comida es precios decentes, no está mal.

Waited long enough at bar for staff to appear and was about to leave. Barmaid who arrived appeared half asleep. Finishing 2nd coffee by time scrambled eggs arrived(better at Morrisons). Counted 12 uncleared tables when leaving. On a level with "The Mile Castle".

It's the same place and menu with mostly the same staff but this place is totally deserted all morning these days. I wonder what happened? It used to get a good crowd in from just after school run time. Now, two hours later and the place is still deserted. I also notice an increase in the number of people saying the food is cold or bad.

I ate here whilst working away in Newcastle and (having visited all the city centre pubs in the Wetherspoons chain) thought I would give the High Main a try. It's around 1.5 miles from the Tyne Bridge area of the city (where my hotel was located) to this pub in Byker, and from the riverside it was largely an uphill walk and steep at times.

Visited with myself and five friends, ordered with the app as we are a large group and we were all mid conversation, so didn't wish to interrupt. Received a rude backhanded comment from a bartender called Charles that "just to let you's know, the bars five steps away, just over there" frankly the pub was dead, so us using the app made his life even easier, as it wasn't interrupting service at the bar, and required even fewer steps of service than usual.

Very busy popular pub no complaints here looks fine on the inside and out had some food no complaints here also

Es un Weatherspoon, así que sé realista. En resumen, es un pub de cadena, así que obtienes lo que obtienes. Dicho esto, el desayuno vegetariano era bastante bueno, y un muy buen valor. Los almuerzos no son tan inspirados, pero adecuados y, de nuevo, un valor muy bueno. No es algo que yo llamaría un "pub agradable y acogedor", pero como un lugar útil para visitar, vale la pena considerarlo.

I love spoons it’s an institution, that offers no thrills and great value. However the manager with the glasses and balding dark hair at this venue is a disgrace. Obnoxious attitude and couldn’t care less about our grievance, also the tall blonde lady who I’ll assume is a supervisor of some sort, her attitude is disgusting. I would never revisit this establishment again, if those individuals are responsible for setting the standard amongst the other staff I dread to think what goes on.

Canny pub with daily specials. I got a burger and beet deal that was pretty cheap. Typical pub grub nothing fancy but certainly did the job.

Pedí algunas bebidas en la aplicación. No pensé en nada más hasta que un cliente real dijo: 'Creo que esas son tus bebidas al final del bar', no tengo idea de cómo lo supo, pero no importa. Le pregunté al miembro del personal si eran mis bebidas y me dijeron que sí, pero que estaban demasiado ocupadas para llevarlas a mi mesa. Quiero decir, vamos, puedes ordenar a la mesa o no puedes. No espero que algún alcohólico amistoso de color rojo brillante haga su trabajo. Cuando le pregunté al personal por qué nuestras bebidas se tiraron al final del bar, me dijeron con estas palabras "debería haber ordenado en el bar", así que ahí lo tienen. La respuesta del personal sobre el uso de la aplicación. Excelente comportamiento. Llevaré esto más lejos, totalmente inaceptable para que el personal se comporte de esta manera, ya que en última instancia, no pueden molestarse en llevar su pedido a su mesa. Al parecer, la aplicación afirma que lo harán? Espero que la administración responda a esto con una razón por la cual el personal me dijo que no usara la aplicación y se quedara en el bar en el futuro.

No lo he sido por un tiempo esta vez, mi amigo y yo decidimos ir y darle otra oportunidad a este lugar. ¿Dónde comienzo cada mesa vacía que estaba cubierta con platos sucios, así que decidí irme? Hay una dama que trabaja allí. Creo que aquí se llama Tracy cuando está trabajando. El lugar donde limpia las mesas, el bar y entrega la comida. la última vez que estuve allí, no ha estado allí, es muy amigable con los clientes y trabaja mientras ella no parece ser un miembro del personal, pero no parece ocupada, pero hay 3 empleados del bar trabajando y 2 esperando la comida que sale por la escotilla. No puedo decir que compró comida esta vez, ya que nos fuimos, ya que no había mesas limpias, se necesitaba más personal como la señora

Another visit to this Wetherspoon. Very nice interior. Food and drink were well priced. The fish and chips was more like whale and chips it was so big 🐟 😁. Will certainly come back when next in the area.

Disinterested staff tables dirty for over 2hrs worst spoons ever refusing to take food orders because theres a half an hour wait was told to come back nd order in 15 mins by duty manager called Jamie

This is a lovely wetherspoons. it is clean and the staff are pleasent. Food is nice for the price and can't complain when the pints of strongbow dark fruits are £1.75! :)

This is a very modern and bright Wetherspoon's. We called in for a drink and found the pub clean and well maintained.

Bit out of the centre, at Byker, about a five minute walk from the Metro station.. A local bar, fairly full with a good laid back atmosphere. Usual Wetherspoons drinks menu, usual good prices. OK for a drink.

Don't go to this pub unless you want a thoroughly miserable time and you want to make your day worse...the staff here are terrible...they have no customer service whatsoever...I was witness (27/04/2018 approx 11-45) to a young mother with a little boy being spoken to rather abruptly by one of the barstaff (female) because the young lady had cleared the table of her rubbish to move to another area of the bar...this bar person berated the young girl before she had time to explain what she was doing... it was very obvious to me that the young mother was very upset by the way she was spoken to...what is the point of having a child/family friendly pub if this is the type of behaviour from the very establishment encouraging people to be welcome off the street!!! I will not be going back to this bar and I will certainly encourage family and friends not to go there either. High Main! You need to teach your staff manners, how to smile and customer service!!

i am quite a regular visitor to the Byker branch of Wetherspoons but i endured an UNPLEASANT time when i visited on 27th April 2018 i was eating my lunch when i witnessed a member of staff behaving very rudely to a group of people dining with a child i was under the impression it was a family and children friendly establishment however this was not the case and therefore made me question the staffs behaviour towards the couple i found this inappropriate and left shocked at the way the staff behaved towards this table so i left disgusted but meal was spot

Nice range of real ales and anything else you fancy. Prices are very reasonable. Lots of space and comfortable seating.

Again let down by food this time it was a day dot in our food are we jinxed got to be we like this pub as well

I often come to the High Main during the day for a beer; it's been really good recently with a decent selection of guest beers. But why are two of the Duty Managers totally incapable of smiling or being cheerful? I don't know how to describe them without sounding horrible. He wears spectacles, bit of a chubby face. Never seen him smile yet.

Basic Wetherspoons food and nice staff with one or two real stars among them.