Great pub- tend to go here when I'm up for Christmas with the folks. It's always been very busy when I've been, but the bar staff seem to do a pretty good job at keeping everyone happy.

Really good wide selection of beers; one of the best I've seen. Food looks good but have never eaten here.
Good pub for the center of Newcastle, a good range of ales, would visit againA fantastic pub which is modern but still feels like a proper pub It has a huge range of beers and ciders. My favourite at the minute is Fischer's Hell. The food is also very good.

Wonderful old boozer serving great Big Lamp ales. Jim the Landlord makes all welcome. Cheers Jim, hope to see you next season.this place is brilliant,great big lamp beers at good prices.was a large group of afc wimbledon fans in here friday night and jim the landlord and bar staff looked after us fantastic.top bloke ,top pub.looking forward to the 28/29th of jan more for the wheatsheaf than the football.great pub.love the sunny daze and other big lamp beers.

Lets all hope this does not go the way of so many pubs down the years. The last thing we need is another theme pub full of charvers Big mistake to retire Len. He put his heart and soul into the job. Some of the current staff are charmless. For God's sake, don't let it go downhill.The best pub in Newcastle for years...sitting in there with the records playing by Len was a Saturday afternoon treat to look forward to. Sadly Sir John Fitzgerald decided to retire him (it seems they had no idea he was a local legend and had been there for 19 years, which says much for their understanding of their pubs!) and it's since slipped into mediocrity, with any old rubbish played loudly and therefore inaudably on the vintage record player, and much of the places ambience gone as a result of that and the last pretty disastrous refit. Still a classic, needs some love and care, and attention to detail with the beer and staff though.

Lovely pub, friendly staff, a pub worth traveling to even if out of wayIn here on Tues 7 Sep when they had Big Lamp Prince Bishop Ale, Fuller's London Porter, Nethergate Old Growler, Durham Magus, Leeds Midnight Bell and a B & T beer. Old Rosie cider and foreign draught beers. Great pub.Excellent bar. Clean, superb bar staff, always friendly and easily served even on busy match days. Toilets clean and regularly checked. Great atmosphere on match days without any bother between home and away fans. Kids can go in on match days

The Free Trade looks really scruffy, but it is actually brilliant with some nice beers and ciders. The toilets aren't the cleanest and are covered in graffitti, but the graffitti is interesting (honestly have a look). The beer garden in front of the pub gives some spectacular views of the river, the bridges and the city skyline.Nicely located pub affording views over the Tyne. The interior was nothing special, with the toilets sub-standard. However, my attention was soon turned towards the 15 real ciders available - Yarde Dry, Gwatkin Stoke Red, Carey Organic Medium, Upper House Medium/Dry, JB's Sussex Medium, Sams Medium & Autumn Scrumpy, Moores Pyder, Perrys Vintage Reserve Medium, Gwynt y Ddraig Happy Daze, Scrumpy, Black Dragon & Old Timer, Broadoak Bristol Port and Westons Perry & Vintage Organic. Apparently the local CAMRA cider people had been on a crawl the day before. So, I doubt this range is usually available. 6 real ales were on - Dartmoor IPA, Milestone Raspberry Wheat Beer, North Yorkshire Special Bitter, Mordue IPA, Crown Black Jack Stout & Northumberland IPA. The pub was busy, both inside and out. I'll certainly give it another go at some point to see what it's like on a normal week.Has an extremely tatty air and the gents' is something else as far as experiences go - I could not find a space for my review - but at least in my experience the overpowering perfume has been of disinfectant rather than urine. There is a pretty good choice of local ales, although I have found the quality variable, and the staff often appear disinterested and are not particularly friendly to the occasional visitor. But I keep returning for the evening view from the beer garden and the occasional excellent pint. A regular port of call when I'm in Toon.

stayed here twice in the accommodation,this is a great place ,wonderful big lamp beers at great prices.food was very good too.good to see plenty of people drinking and eating on a saturday in january.brilliant pub with good food and real local ales (you can't get much more local that over the road!) "Big Lamp" ales are the main ales served. Prince Bishop, Big Lamp Bitter, Sunny Daze, Summerhill Stout, to name a few.

the bar area is quite small, but the outdoor seating is massive and gets especially busy in the summer with the people coming in from the local country park and walkways.
Nothing beats a pint of "Sunny Daze" outside on a hot summers day.visited saturday 4/9/2010

big lamp brews all first class, would have been interesting if it had been raining as its a small bar but a must visit place for beer lovers.