Bar

The St. John's College Cellar Bar is situated on the highest of three levels of cellars underneath Linton house. Serving a full range of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, at some of the lowest prices in Durham, John's Bar aims to provide a welcoming atmosphere to everyone... especially Johnians.

Social events take place in the bar on a fairly regular basis, often consisting of lots of people dressing up in silly costumes! The bar serves a variety of real ales, and aims to serve you an awesome pint. It is also home to the now legendary Tripod, exclusive to John’s, and the staple drink of any respectable college bar crawl.

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The bar team are:

Senior Bar Officer: Charlie Deans

Bar Treasurer: Charlotte Bettley

Cellarman: Rob Luff

Assistant Treasurer: Livvy Hampsher-Monk

Assistant Cellarman: Will Johnson

You can see their profiles here.

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The bar is open every night of term from 8-11pm

Regular Special Offers are -

TRIPOD - £4

DOUBLE & MIXER - £2.50

POWER SOURZ - £2.50

Bar rules - there are no rules! But if you throw up in the bar you will be fined £50, and if you are caught canoodling, you get a pint of very cold water thrown over the pair of you... no-one needs to see that!

Formal Dinners

Formal Dinners take place once a week in St John's. They are free for livers in and livers out, and offer the perfect chance to engage with the wider college community, have a laugh with friends, try a new wine, and share a tasty meal. Formal Dinners, or just "Formals" as they are known in Durham, are steeped in tradition and as such one of their defining characteristics is the presence of a "high table".  The "chair of formal", usually the college principal, sits at the centre of high table.  Attendees should recognise and respect that their place at the Formal is through invite from the chair of formal.  Also on high table, there are the personal guests of the chair and members of the St John's Senior Common Room including tutors, visiting fellows and members of academic staff.  Respect is shown to high table through a number of things, for instance attendees should stand in silence whilst high table enter, and while high table exit.

Attendees are also expected to abide by a certain etiquette. These rules, beloved by most students, can be quite quirky; for instance, should you wish to get up from the table part way through the meal, you must bow to high table as you leave.  Other more serious rules request that behaviour is not too rowdy and people respect the dress code.  The dress code for a  Formal is suits with academic gowns for the men, and smart dresses with academic gowns for the women. 

The food we recieve at formal is wide and varied, and always of a high quality, some sample dishes are:

• Mozzarella and tomato stack, drizzled in balsamic vinegar with rocket salad. (V)
• French onion soup with garlic croutons. (V)
• Duck liver pate, with plum chutney, salad and a bread roll.

• Chicken breast stuffed with sundried tomatoes and brie.
• Fillet of cod, in a whisky prawn sauce, on a bed of mashed potatoes.
• Lamb chop in a Redcurrant jus, served ontop of dauphinoise potatoes.
• Caramelised red onion and goats cheese tart. (V)

• Gold diggers crunch (triple chocolate cheescake on a bed of chocolate brownie, with buried dime bar pieces) (V)
• Pear and Almond Tart (V)
• Tarte au Citron (V)

Signup for Formals take place the week before during the formal, this way those who aren't on formal that week get priority to sign up for formal the week after. Signup is conducted through this website under News and Events --> Event Signup.  For those who are interested in understanding how the JCR Food and Formals officer decides who recieves a place on formal,  >>this document<< outlines the procedure used.

JCR Shop

The JCR Shop is found in the Bailey Room, and is open for half an hour after the bar closes, although we are looking into extending our opening hours. This depends on whether we can find enough volunteers for shifts – hint hint! Well stocked with sandwiches, chocolate, crisps and drinks, the shop is the place to go to when you need an energy boost to get you through that all-nighter! The shop is also proud of its commitment to Fair Trade, with a selection of Fair Trade goods on sale.

Manager: Diamond Dukes.

Contact the Services Manager: johns.services@dur.ac.uk. 

Just World Coffee Shop

The Just World Shop began as a small stall opening twice a week in the room now used by maintenance inside St. John’s College about 26 years ago. It was started by some of those who went on to found Traidcraft! About six years ago the shop moved to its current position on the Bailey, allowing access to outside customers.

Toastie Bar

John’s Toastie Bar occurs every Wednesday and Saturday evening, from 9.30 – 11pm in the Bailey Room (although the toasties are created and cooked in the kitchen of 23 North Bailey, and couriered along the Bailey by a trusty volunteer).

The toasties are reasonably priced (70p for 1, 2 for £1.20), with flavours on the set menu ranging from ham and cheese to chocolate spead, peanut butter and banana (or if none of the favours on the menu take your fancy you can choose your own fillings).

The Toastie Bar is run by volunteers within John's who get the reward of a free (and well filled) toastie at the end of the night so get involved!