The Witham

The Witham

10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Monday
Closed
Tuesday
Closed
Wednesday
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Thursday
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Friday
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Saturday
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Sunday
11:00 AM - 4:00 PM
About
The Witham is a vibrant Arts Centre for cultural, community and commercial use, offering a 240 seat performance venue, a gallery space, function and meeting rooms, a cafe bar, a visitor information point and studio space for creative businesses.
Duration: 1-2 hours
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Popular mentions

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4.5
4.5 of 5 bubbles124 reviews
Excellent
76
Very good
27
Average
8
Poor
9
Terrible
4

Jenny H
40 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2024 • Couples
Lovely woman in the visitor centre was a great help in recommending some walks around the area suitable for us and our whippet. She was very helpful and nothing was a bother. We enjoyed the walk around the grounds of Bowes Museum where we had our picnic and then from Barnard Castle to Eggleston Abbey and back. Thank you!
Written 4 August 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

allertonlad
Northallerton, UK1,364 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2024 • Couples
Really enjoyed a visit to this lovely little theatre in Barnard Castle. Good views of the stage from all parts, reasonable bar prices, friendly and helpful staff throughout. They even went out of their way to help me retrieve my spectacles the day after the performance, after I had absent mindedly left them behind the previous evening. Highly recommended.
Written 14 March 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

sharon17Teesside
Teesside176 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2021
Lovely cafe within the Witham that houses Barneys theatre. The cafe is located at the back on we were able to sit outside as the weather was lovely and sunny.
We had a beautiful cheese scone and a cup of tea followed by a glass of wine. It is table service and the staff are friendly and welcoming. It can be accessed from Morrison car park also as well as the main high street.
Worth a visit would go back
Written 31 August 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Beccib21
Newton Aycliffe, UK325 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2021 • Couples
Couple and adult daughter (friends in company) attended Castle Players Trio of Plays by Alan Bennett. Highly polished, consistent performances throughout. Excellent facilities with appropriate Covid measures. Very reasonably priced tickets. Good selection of pre show and interval drinks. Easy parking very close by. Choice of front and rear entrance.
Written 1 January 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Pum51k
Darlington, UK20 contributions
2.0 of 5 bubbles
Sept 2022
Been here a few times but I now find the service disappointingly slow. They only have 12 covers so it should not take 20 minutes to provide 2 coffees and cakes when there were 3 staff working the counter. It's not even as if they provide full cooked meals just paninis and soup.

A couple sitting near us ordered coffee and cake and a soup. These were delivered separately so that by the time the soup arrived the other customer had finished their coffee. If you are providing a service it should be prompt and efficient this was neither.

The kitchen is quite small and open to public view so I was a bit shocked to see no handwashing or gloves being used between customers. And staff from other parts of the building in the food prep area.

It's a shame but there are some other nice cafes in Bernard Castle and I will be switching to one of these in future.
Written 20 September 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

321KSG
Barnard Castle, UK470 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2020
Called in for pre lockdown cake and coffee.
Always try and support the local business in town but this time was served by a rude arguementative lady who was quite aggressive as I asked if the cakes were fresh today. Decided against a treat due to her response.
Coffee is good here but had a bitter taster after the way we were spoken to.
Emailed our concerns but they couldn’t be bothered to reply
Written 7 November 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Susannah H
Barnard Castle, UK8 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Sept 2020
What a wonderful welcome we received coming to eat at the Witham cafe. The volunteers here could not have been more helpful, they made this such an enjoyable outing. Food was delicious. I felt extremely safe eating out here, the volunteers were so attentive at ensuring everything was covid compliant. I cannot recommend this cafe highly enough and the venue as a whole, lovely gift shop and interesting exhibitions.
Written 13 September 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

James P
4 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2020 • Friends
Great venue with some fantastic acts but they made us queue out in the cold. The manager(?) was incredibly rude, telling people off(!) in the queue for not moving up quickly enough. The massive queue blocked the whole entrance corridor and door to the loos.
They used to let you wait in the bar before the doors opened.
I love this place and have visited dozens of times but they need to seriously rethink this strange new system.
All of the staff apart from this one particular character are delightful.
Written 13 February 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Dear James, Many thanks for coming to The Witham last night and we're so pleased that you love our venue. We work hard to get it right for our visitors and so have taken the opportunity of your comments to review the current queuing system. Overall, we haven't changed. For the majority of events at The Witham, there is no queue as we have reserved seating in place and you will be able to enjoy a drink in the Café Bar without worrying about securing your place in the music hall. However, for the events when there is no reserved seating, we heed your feedback and will endeavour improve on the current situation by testing some alternatives. Please bear with us and we will look forward to welcoming you back to The Witham soon. Kind regards, Sarah Gent, Programming and Marketing Manager.
Written 19 February 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Joanna K
Leominster, UK8 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2022
Hot, crowded day in Barnards Castle. Went for lunch in the dog friendly cafe at The Witham. Such a delightful contrast. Shady courtyard. Sunny grassy area with espalier apple trees. Friendly staff. Lovely lunch. Highly recommended.
Written 9 August 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Traveller1999
Durham, UK308 contributions
2.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2015 • Couples
Called mid-afternoon, cafe empty. Clean and smart but totally lacking in atmosphere. Smallest latte we've had in a long time and not cheap. Very small scone at quite a high price.

We won't be coming back here again.
Written 20 March 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for visiting The Witham and your feedback on that visit. We're sorry you are not planning to return but welcome the opportunity to respond to your comments. We do have quiet patches throughout the day. If you visit during a lunch time rush or come to enjoy one of our film, comedy theatre, music or dance events, you would see The Witham as it should be - vibrant, busy and full of atmosphere. With regards to the latte and coffee, we are focused on providing quality here at The Witham and don't aim to compete with other cafes for the biggest portions. We pride ourselves in freshly baked scones daily and sourcing our fairtrade coffee from the very best suppliers, even following the coffee bean harvest to different locations to get the very best for that time of year. However, it's important to us that our customers are able to appreciate the high quality and have a great taste experience so we will review the size of the latte in response to your comments. Thanks again for the feedback and we hope you'll re-consider another visit and explore all the great events that are on offer at The Witham too. Kind regards, Sarah from The Witham team
Written 1 April 2015
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

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THE WITHAM (2025) All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Reviews)

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