As an Irish lad there’s nothing I like more than sitting in a bar inspired by the motherland, £6.50 pints of Guinness, a fiddle de dee band, tourists shouting “por-tay-to”, Draconian opening times, surly bouncers, questionable beer, potato based dishes and Bushmills mirrors.

I get dewy eyed with the Mountains of Mourne rising in my throat. 

But then I catch myself on and realise it’s not nostalgia but PTSD that’s making me sob uncontrollably into my pint of Harp.

In my time in Newcastle I have seen O’Neills, Scruffy Murphy’s, Callaghan’s and the Stout Fiddler- to name but a few- come and go.

The gaping hole of twee that no one missed, is being filled with not just an Irish bar , but a New York style Irish bar.

So a bar in Newcastle pretending to be a New York bar which is pretending to be a bar in Ireland.

Thankfully the company responsible have a long history of making me scratch my head, the Five Points (‘why’s this bar layed out like this?’) Filthy Mcnastys (looks like the interior of  St Oswald’s charity shop) and Shebeen ( made from doors, uncomfortable seating but not too bad)

Filthys also run a number of bars already in the Bigg Market, and this will be replacing some bar I can’t even remember the name of.

Much to my disappointment the bar will not be called Sean O’Stereotypes or Paddy McPatronising but instead – it will be named The Points 

You can read the gushing press release here. 

I’m sure it will be dead on to be sure, so it will, and the craic will be 90.