- Play Hard
- 2nd Oct 2026
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- 0 minute
After Hours at House of Tides is Newcastle’s new Sunday night ritual this autumn
Sunday nights don’t usually get much love. They’re the night everyone tells themselves they’ll have an early one, the night the week ahead starts creeping back in before you’ve even finished the weekend. House of Tides has other ideas.
Every Sunday from 4pm to 9.30pm, the Michelin-starred Quayside restaurant swaps its usual fine dining formality for something more casual, After Hours, and in our opinion it’s the best way to close out your weekend this season.
Downstairs at House of Tides has always had its own character. Exposed brick, cast iron pillars and flagged floors, a different vibe from the elegant dining room upstairs. After Hours leans into that. Candlelight, a DJ throughout the evening, and a menu built for grazing and lingering rather than ceremony. And we want to be here every Sunday evening.
The concept
Chef-owner Kenny Atkinson has described After Hours as a chance to give his team the freedom to create a space where people can get together in informal surroundings, eat simple, tasty dishes and unwind with a cocktail while listening to great music. It is, by his own admission, very different to what happens upstairs at House of Tides, and that’s exactly the point. Where the main restaurant is precise and considered, After Hours is designed to be the kind of evening you fall into rather than plan around.
That doesn’t mean any compromise on quality. This is still a kitchen with a Michelin star behind it, and it shows in every plate that comes out of the kitchen.
The food
The format is simple: steak frites, sauce verte, a mustard-dressed house salad with hazelnuts and herbs, and a baked baguette, all for £30 per person. It’s a set-up any Relais de l’Entrecôte regular will recognise, right down to the confidence of building a whole menu around one exceptional dish rather than pages of choice. The quality is exactly what you’d expect from a kitchen with a Michelin star behind it. Better still, the steak and frites come as two servings – you’ll absolutely not go hungry.
Speaking of that, the snacks are worth making sure you go hungry. We went straight for the devils on goatsback, chicken liver parfait, oeufs rémoulade with anchovies, and the smoked cheddar gougère with jalapeño crème fraîche.
To finish, it’s a choice between the affogato, the fruit sorbet, or the cheeseboard and crackers if you’re in no rush to leave (why would you be). The Eton mess, made to share, is the one to order if there’s more than two of you at the table.
The drinks
The cocktail list is playful without losing precision, and every one of them feels like it was designed with a Sunday evening specifically in mind rather than bolted on as an afterthought. The Ms Pac-Man, made with vanilla infused Hepple gin, house-made sour cherry syrup, Vault Bitter and soda, is a great place to start, while the Alpine Negroni, built on Hepple gin and a house-made strawberry vermouth with a Dola Dira rhubarb aperitif, is one for negroni purists who fancy a twist. The Overthinker Margarita, with its harissa and sumac salt, is worth ordering just for the name alone, and the Ikebana Spritz is a lighter option if you’re easing into the evening rather than diving straight in.
Wines by the glass or bottle are equally well chosen, spanning a Sicilian Inzolia and a Petit Chablis through to a Chateau Musar Jeune from Lebanon, so there’s a genuine reason to linger over the list rather than default to the same glass of red or white out of habit.
Who it’s for
This is the bit we love most. After Hours works just as well as a low-key date night as it does for a bigger group catching up after a long week. The set format keeps things simple whether there are two of you or ten, since nobody is stuck deliberating over a menu while everyone else waits, and the shared, sociable nature of the food and small plates means it naturally suits a table that wants to talk as much as eat. Add the DJ and the downstairs energy, and it never feels like you’re the only table having fun, even on a night of the week that usually asks for very little of you.
Why it works for autumn
There’s something about After Hours that feels made for the darker evenings ahead. Candlelight and cast-iron pillars are always going to suit a night when it’s already dark by the time you sit down, and a steak frites and a negroni hit differently once the temperature starts dropping. It’s the sort of booking that turns a Sunday from something to get through into something to look forward to, which feels like exactly the kind of ritual worth building into the season.
Quick facts
What: After Hours at House of Tides
Where: 28-30 The Close, Quayside, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 3RF
When: Every Sunday this autumn, 4pm to 9.30pm
Price: £30 per person for the steak frites menu, with small plates and cocktails available separately
Good for: Both couples and bigger groups
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