My friends L & A were in town this week, so I decided to take them on a mini-tour of Ouseburn as a way of getting out of the city centre heat. We decided to start at Thali Tray, which long-term followers will remember I visited when it first opened in winter. Sensibly they’d switched off the outdoor fire pit, and the courtyard was rammed with diners, but we found a table near the door to get a bit of a breeze.

The food was as good as ever – the menu is limited, but has decent veggie options, and the nan is to die for. They also do a great range of beers, which pleased A, and although our eyes were much bigger than our bellies, which led to some serious over-ordering, we all enjoyed ourselves.

Then to the Cluny, which on a hot Tuesday night was quite quiet, with most of the drinkers outside. A beer there then we wandered back up to the Tanners Arms, a pub which bills itself as the gateway to Ouseburn and manages to strike the right balance between remaining a proper pub and being part of the increasingly hipsterfied neighbourhood.

Like the Cluny, it’s dog-friendly – and we met a very friendly dog, who basically decided to adopt us for our stay – and pleasingly laid back, with a good range of beers. I was particularly impressed that they’d thought to put suncream on the bar for patrons who might have been tempted to overdo the outdoors in the sunshine. Definitely a place I’d go back.