Breweries in Newcastle: Taprooms, Tours and What to Drink

What counts as a brewery you can visit in Newcastle

Plenty of beer carries a Newcastle name, but only a handful of sites welcome drinkers. Wylam Brewery runs a tap at the Palace of Arts in Exhibition Park, and Anarchy Brew Co has a taproom at its Benfield Business Park brewery. Both are working breweries with public spaces attached, not theme pubs.

If you want a wider crawl afterwards, the best pubs in Newcastle cover the city-centre end of the evening; treat the breweries as daytime or early-evening stops and build the rest of the night around them. That split matters because both sites sit away from the main pub circuit, so you will be travelling between them.

Wylam Brewery at the Palace of Arts, Exhibition Park

Wylam's home is the Palace of Arts in Exhibition Park, postcode NE2 4PZ, a short walk from the city centre and close to the university quarter. The building gives it the grandest room of any brewery tap in the city, with high ceilings and enough space for a proper crowd.

The tap is only part of the operation. Wylam also runs Sunday lunch and a busy live-events programme in the same building, from tribute nights to food-battle evenings, and tickets for those are sold through the brewery's own site. Check the what's-on listing before you travel, because a ticketed show can change what the space is doing that day.

For a Sunday, this is the brewery to mention if you want a sit-down meal rather than a bar snack: Wylam lists Sunday lunch among what it does in the Palace of Arts, though the fetched site gives no times or booking terms, so check both directly with Wylam Brewery before you plan around it. The Sunday roast Newcastle options elsewhere in the city make a useful comparison if you would rather stay central. Book ahead for weekends, and check kitchen times with Wylam Brewery rather than assuming the tap pours all afternoon.

Anarchy Brew Co, Benfield Business Park: taproom weekends and pizza

Anarchy Brew Co sits at Unit A1, Benfield Business Park on Benfield Road, NE6 4NQ, a couple of miles east of the city centre. It describes itself as a craft brewery, taproom and venue, with a core team drawn largely from local hospitality. The setting is industrial rather than parkland, so dress for a brewery yard.

The taproom opens on Fridays and Saturdays, subject to live events, which is the single most important thing to check before setting out. When it is open you get the brewery's own beers on draught plus a full bar, and stone-baked pizzas from Rebel Crust, which uses the brewery's house yeast in its dough.

Anarchy also lists brewery tours and venue hire on its site, but it does not set out tour times or prices in the material we checked, so look at the tours page or ring ahead if a tour is the reason for your trip. For a group that wants a table, a pint and food without formality, a Saturday taproom session here is the simpler option of the two breweries.

Which one to pick: occasion, group size and travel

Choose Wylam for a Sunday lunch, a celebration or anything where the room matters; the Palace of Arts is a destination in itself and pairs well with a walk through Exhibition Park. Choose Anarchy for a Friday or Saturday session with mates, pizza and a look at the kit, especially if you like modern craft styles over traditional cask.

Travel changes the answer. Wylam is walkable from the city centre and near the university, while Anarchy needs a bus, taxi or drive out along Benfield Road, so a designated driver or a booked cab home is worth sorting in advance. Neither is a late-night venue in the club sense; both wind down around their own events.

If the weather is decent and you want outside space, Wylam's park setting has the edge over an industrial estate. The wider beer garden Newcastle guide is useful if outdoor drinking is the priority and you are flexible about which side of the city you end up on.

For food beyond pizza and Sunday lunch, the pub food Newcastle round-up fills in the gaps between brewery stops. It helps to have one booked meal in the plan, because taproom kitchens can be limited to specific sessions.

Newcastle Brown Ale: what it is and why the name is bigger than the brewery

Newcastle Brown Ale is a brown ale launched in 1927 by Colonel Jim Porter, and for much of the twentieth century it was the beer that carried the city's name around the world. It is a bottled and keg beer rather than a visitor attraction, so do not turn up expecting a tour.

Production has moved around over the years, so if the exact provenance matters to you, check the label or the brand's own information rather than relying on the name. What you can still do is drink it in a Newcastle pub and compare it with the cask and craft beers made in the city today.

For the pubs where a bottle of Brown Ale fits the room, the guide to the oldest pub in Newcastle is a good starting point, since the historic boozers are where the beer's reputation was built. Pair that with a brewery tap and you have both ends of the city's beer story in one trip.

Beers to look for from Newcastle breweries

Wylam's beers turn up on bars across the North East as well as at the brewery tap, and the range shifts with the seasons, so ask what is pouring rather than expecting a fixed line-up. If you like modern, hop-led styles, start at the Wylam tap and see what is on.

Anarchy brews both contemporary craft styles and a traditional cask range, which makes it the better stop if your group is split between cask drinkers and craft fans. Ask at the bar what is on cask that week rather than assuming a fixed line-up.

Anarchy's own site says it brews contemporary craft styles alongside a traditional cask range, so between the two breweries you can cover both moods. Both sell beer to take home, so a bottle or two is an easy souvenir, but check what is in stock on the day rather than planning around a specific beer. If real ale is the whole point of the trip, cross-check the best pubs list for cask-focused rooms in the centre.

Practical points: booking, kitchen times and checking before you travel

The two decisions that most often spoil a brewery trip are taproom opening days and event closures. Anarchy's taproom runs Friday and Saturday subject to live events; Wylam's building switches between tap, Sunday lunch and ticketed shows. Confirm both before you set off, and book where a table or a ticket is needed.

Neither brewery publishes a full price list for tours or events, so budget by checking the booking page when you reserve rather than guessing. For the named pubs and food stops with a guide of their own, see Newcastle pubs and food landmarks.

Which Newcastle brewery should you book?

Book Wylam if you want the grand room and, when it is running, a Sunday lunch or a ticketed show in the same building; book Anarchy if you want a Friday or Saturday taproom session, pizza and a proper look at a working craft brewery. Both reward a little forward planning, especially around live events.

Whichever you choose, confirm opening days and kitchen sessions before you travel, then let the best pubs in Newcastle fill the rest of your evening. That combination gets you the city's brewery beer and its pub culture without a wasted journey.