The best restaurants serving British food in Peterlee West County Durham North East

Very nice food, nice people, nice atmosphere, reasonably priced.

Been here a couple times for cocktails, brilliant price. 2 for 1 and can even go back and get your second cocktail after the first so it doesn't go warm. Very helpful, definitely need to try the food also

I write this review with a heavy heart, as The Black Bull, once a decent value pub, has succumbed to a drastic decline that leaves customers like myself utterly disheartened. Before the dark cloud of COVID loomed the pub had great opening times that were a genuine attraction for customers. Late opening kitchen and bar offered somewhere to go when other venues were closed. One of the most significant blows has been the slashing of opening hours, a decision that has left the once vibrant pub lifeless. Staffing cuts are ruining the venue, leaving employees demotivated and demoralized. As if that weren't enough, prices have skyrocketed, making every visit feel like you're paying more whilst getting a lot less. Despite enduring reduced opening hours in a show of loyalty, the pub has once again slashed its availability, closing the doors as early as 9:20 pm on weekdays. This renders midweek outings for a drink virtually worthless, a bitter pill for the numerous regular customers who enjoy meeting within the venue. There's a group of 4 or 5 of us who regularly drink here multiple times per week who no doubt will look elsewhere. The financial decisions behind these changes seem deeply flawed. With a gross profit margin ranging between 63% and 67% on beverages, even closing at 10 pm incurs losses. I've witnessed 20 to 30 people some weeknights unable to make purchases due to the premature closure, losing potential profits (not revenue) of £50 per round or more. All this to save 9 staff hours per week (£90) .. although this was before hours were reduced further. At £4.55 for a pint of San Miguel, the pub is sacrificing approximately £2.55 in profit per pint. Multiply that by the number of disgruntled customers, and it becomes evident that this mismanagement is driving away loyal patrons. The suggestion that reduced opening hours save money is unfounded when considering the lost revenue and frustrated clientele. Regular customers provide bread and butter revenue streams and have increased loyalty. They are often most affected by these changes which ultimately are trying to reduce costs from a reduction in patrons At other times of trade. It's clear retaining customers and then boosting sales is the key not cutting hours. As a customer who, on average, spends £100-120 per week at The Black Bull, these reduced hours are an insurmountable disappointment. Tonight, 2 of us redirected £50+ of our money to a competing venue simply because The Black Bull decided to close its doors prematurely. What's additionally frustrating is that both Google, the website, and social media still have the previous opening hours. This smacks of decision making without follow through. The final galling element is that apparently these decisions were made well before Christmas and haven't been communicated to customers. Indeed this evening, out of the two of us coming in for a drink, it was only myself that were informed about the opening hour changes as I'd arrived at 9.05pm It would have been significantly better to have communicated these changes to customers well in advanced thus better managing expectations. I expect that these decisions have been made at area manager level and above, by individuals who are not familiar with the venues. If they were they would see the incorrectness of their call. If someone is to reach out to me about this review I'd expect this to be an Area Manager not a venue manager. Here's hoping you can rectify these errors in the near future. EDIT. Dec 2024 Weekday hours are now 10pm close. Slightly better though it would be much preferred to see an 11pm return to closing. Weekend hours are good and Sunday is 10.20pm last orders. Which we would like to see back to 11pm There have been some good additions to the bar. New IPA's San Miguel, Peroni etc have definitely helped a lot and there are more customers in now than when I last wrote this review.