A CAUSTIC pub critic has blasted fun pubs and designer venues, claiming they are destroying a North city’s individuality. The Burglar’s Dog — otherwise known as writer Mark Jones — is a hit with more than 290,000 visitors to his barking-mad website, which has reviewed 151 Newcastle boozers in irreverent, vitriolic fashion. Mark, 39, teamed up with Tonto Press last year to turn the contents of www.theburglarsdog. co.uk into a book, The Burglar’s Dog Alternative Guide to Drinking in Newcastle upon Tyne, which flew off the shelves. Many new watering holes have opened since its publication, prompting Mark to go on a year-long pub crawl to visit the city’s latest drinking establishments and revisit existing pubs, ready for an updated version of The Burglar’s Dog guide. On the eve of the new book’s publication, he revealed how the past year has seen a downturn in the quality of pubs, while also taking a sideswipe at Newcastle’s “party city” label. He said: “There’s been no improvement in the pub scene over the past year and if anything has changed it’s my level of despair. “Every month seems to bring a new ‘designer venue’ with silvery wallpaper and a collective attitude that makes you think that, if they had trodden in something, the look on their faces would be better than the one they give you as you walk through the door. “There are still a few jewels in the rough, but any uniqueness that Newcastle might once have had is rapidly disappearing.” And he claimed: “The emphasis now seems to be on yet more bars like those on the awful ‘Diamond Strip’ by the Central Station, where each month’s contemporary makeover adds another quid to the price of a pint, or on those like that endless parade of strip joints in and around The Gate complex. “We’re stuck with the same chain brands, the same overpriced Bar Sneers and the same you-don’t-get-many-of-those-to- the-pound ‘fun’ pubs as everywhere else.” As a non-smoker, Mark couldn’t wait for the arrival of the smoking ban on July 1, yet he now claims that smokers masked a whole series of other ills. He said: “The smoking ban has been a positive step, but I miss smokers, if only because the smoke covered up all the vile smells from spilt beer, disinfectant and, worst of all, people. “I could name at least a dozen bars in town that could do with a sheep dip beside their front doors.” V The Burglar’s Dog Alternative Guide to Drinking in Newcastle upon Tyne goes on sale tomorrow, at £9.99, or see www.tontopress.com | 
