Brewers Fayre Dunelm Ridge, Durham

...Bears anymore, its now the Brewers fayre, Dunelm Ridge. This is a large pub/restaurant that is now part of the Whitbread chain, it can be found just off of the A167 about half way between Durham and Chester le Street. You come off at the roundabout signposted for the Arnison Centre/ Pitty Me and turn right at the Premier Travel Inn and Brewers Fayre signs just before you get to the Arnison Centre itself. I can't say how many roundabouts along in ...
...for their meal. The Brewers Fayre has plenty of space and the kids sit at a long table well away from the bar. Now on arrival they were asked what drink they wanted: water, squash etc but that's all, dinner is a buffet affair. There was: Chicken nuggets, mini sausages, fish bites as well as chips, some big Cucumber sticks and carrot sticks. There was plenty of child friendly vegetables and dinner was a lovely sharing affair This was followed by Ice ... more

Introduction
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Young Miss M had decided, her fourth birthday party would be at Brewster Bears in Durham. Off course its not called Brewster Bears anymore, its now the Brewers fayre, Dunelm Ridge. This is a large pub/restaurant that is now part of the Whitbread chain, it can be found just off of the A167 about half way between Durham and Chester le Street. You come off at the roundabout signposted for the Arnison Centre/ Pitty Me and turn right at the Premier Travel Inn and Brewers Fayre signs just before you get to the Arnison Centre itself. I can't say how many roundabouts along in either direction to go as they seem to be adding one or two per year to this stretch of road.

The actual day was a children's party in the fun factory followed by a family meal so I'm going to try and cover all aspects of the place.

Party Options
You can have the standard party for £5.95 per child which gets you:
Time in the fun factory
A buffet feast, drink and dessert
A birthday cake for parties of 8 or more
A birthday card
A party bag and present
Party Booking pack

Or for £7.95 you can have a deluxe party which also includes:
Face Painting
Helium Balloon
Balloon Animal

Also every Saturday and Sunday Morning the fun factory is made exclusive to your party, which costs an extra £40 per party. When there are no parties on of a weekend morning they seem to close the fun factory completely.

Our Party
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We had a 10 till 12 Sunday morning deluxe party with the fun factory all to ourselves. In total we had 12 children there. Just 12 children and their parents - I've been to a surprising number of these places now: Giants Den, 2 different Mr Twisters, Fun Shack etc and most Sunday mornings are crowded, noisy, uncomfortable and generally not adult friendly. This was a complete revelation, one of the parents was a teacher who was able to sit and mark papers whilst the kids played.

Upon arrival in the Fun Factory the children are all issued an "I'm tagged for safety" tabard and had their shoes collected. They were then able to go and play. There is a toddler area (0-4) which has a shallow ball pit and some soft shapes to play with as well as a larger area. This larger area is on two levels. The lower level has a zigzag walkway, some push out of the way obstacles, a spooky corridor and a small slide. The small slide used to have a ball pool at the bottom but they seem to have taken these balls away now. There are then two ways to the upper level, a stepped ramp (the easy way) and a sort of giant crawl ladder (the hard way). There's some walkways, a sort of rope bridge and a lookout post on the upper level. A big twirly slide provides a fun way down. Now this play area isn't as big as some by any means but its still good fun and great for a group of 4 year olds. By about 8 they settle for nothing less than five floors, rope swings and gargantuan slides.

The Fun factory also has two Playstations (original pale grey affairs) for those who don't want to climb and two rides: little merry-go-round and a roller coaster ride. These last two will cost you extra per ride.

In order to keep everyone refreshed we got a jug of juice (Brewers fair don't throw this in) and a big pot of tea and coffee for the grownups. The brew-ups were about £12 each but then it watered all the parents and was provided in the Fun Factory itself.

After about an hour of playtime (around 11:00) the kids are gathered together and taken into the main restaurant for their meal. The Brewers Fayre has plenty of space and the kids sit at a long table well away from the bar. Now on arrival they were asked what drink they wanted: water, squash etc but that's all, dinner is a buffet affair. There was: Chicken nuggets, mini sausages, fish bites as well as chips, some big Cucumber sticks and carrot sticks. There was plenty of child friendly vegetables and dinner was a lovely sharing affair This was followed by Ice Cream and a cake, we brought our own ScoobyDoo cake - theirs is OK but certainly not great. Then Brewster comes out and they take a Polaroid of him with the Birthday girl. Everyone else can come and see Brewster but they have to take their own picture.

Following dinner it's a return to the fun factory for more play and face painting. The face painting was done very well. Miss M was a Dalmatian dog and very good she looked with a panting tongue painted on and everything. Come 12 O'clock they called everyone over for their shoes back on and a party bag. The Party Bag had a Brewster Bear Helium Balloon and a Balloon animal that the staff had been busy making. Inside was a large matchbox sized metal box with a Brewster soft toy, piece of birthday cake and some sweets. Of course as this was happening - the fun factory opened to the general public and other children were now allowed in.

On booking the party I'd left a £10 deposit. In addition to this for 12 children - deluxe party, exclusive use of the Fun Factory and big jug of tea and coffee the bill came to £139.45, which you also get Nectar points on.

Although small, the fun factory seemed clean and well cared for, staff inside were friendly and helpful and keeping the area exclusive created a lovely pleasant atmosphere in which the grownups could have a chat and watch the kids (or go play).

Grownup Food
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Following the party Miss M., Mstr A (8), parents and two sets of grandparents took a table for a grown up meal. Brewers have been changing the menu over recent months, some of the meals chosen were:

Big breakfast brunch (that was mine) - £6.00
Two premium pork sausages, grilled bacon, baked beans, pan fried mushrooms, grilled tomato and two fried eggs. Served with chips.

Scampi and Chips £6.00

Roasted vegetable lasagne - £6.90
With roasted peppers, courgette, aubergine and pine nuts in a rich tomato sauce, topped with Cheddar and Mozzarella. Served with chips, garlic bread and a lightly dressed salad garnish.

My dad had wanted one of their light bite sandwiches (he doesn't head lunch) - the menu was on the table, but they won't sell you a sandwich on Sunday dinner time, so he had to settle for a Ploughmans.

The food anyway was lovely, everyone enjoyed theirs. The Ploughmans looked great: a huge slice of quality looking ham, pickle cheese and the rest. The Big Breakfast was great, lovely sausages and bacon, eggs with yokes still runny. The meals, together with a drink each: some shandys, cider and wine together with chips and fruitshoots for the kids came to £56.62

I'd been a bit concerned if we'd get away with sitting down for a meal when the kids had just eaten, but they seemed to break quite early for their food. Miss M can eat about as many meals as she is allowed and Mr A decided that he was too big to sit and eat with the 4 year olds so it went really well. I think at least half the parents from the party stopped afterwards to eat in the restaurant.

Other points to note about Dunelm Ridge
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There is a good sized car park out the front but its long and narrow and I find it a rather disconcerting walk to get the kids into the building.

There are toilets in the restaurant close to the Fun Factory entrance. On several previous visits the floor in the gents has been very wet. This time it was dry and clean but the toilet's quite small. You also need to watch the tap on the sink as there is a very high water pressure behind it, oh and the hand dryer then didn't work.

There is also a large beer garden (there's no grass and the beer doesn't grow?) with tables and benches. Also outside is another play area with a climbing frame/slide thing.

When not attending a party a 1 hour visit to the fun factory is £2.00 per child

From the Northern Echo, first published Tuesday 27th Apr 2004.
A FAMILY food chain has won an award for the third year running for being the most parent-friendly restaurant. Brewsters Dunelm Ridge, at the Arnison Retail Centre, Pity Me, Durham, has been awarded two Tommy's Parent Friendly Awards

Opening Times 8am - 11pm 7 days per week. It opens early as it also does the breakfasts for the Holiday Inn,
 

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