TL;DR
- Alcoholic bottomless brunch is £41.95 per person. Non-alcoholic is £19.95. A 7.5% service charge is added to the bill.
- You get 90 minutes of unlimited lager, prosecco, spirits and mixers, and cocktail fishbowls, plus a Council Tapas sharing board for the group.
- Shots are NOT included. Neither is a separate board per person. One board per group.
- Saturday slots sell out fast. Book your slot well in advance or risk disappointment.
- Arrive 15 minutes early, pace yourself, and eat the dinosaur nuggets. That’s the whole strategy.
The question everyone’s actually asking
Everyone’s done the maths at some point. You see “bottomless brunch newcastle” in a group chat, someone shares a link, and before anyone commits, there it is: “But is it actually worth it?”
It’s a fair question. You’re handing over money upfront, you’ve got 90 minutes on the clock, and you’re trusting a venue you might never have been to before. Get it wrong and you’ve blown a Saturday afternoon. Get it right and it becomes the thing everyone’s still talking about on the Sunday.
We’ve been running bottomless brunch at The Mad House for years. We know what makes a session brilliant and we know where people go wrong. This guide covers both, honestly.
How much does bottomless brunch cost in Newcastle?
At The Mad House, alcoholic bottomless brunch is £41.95 per person. The non-alcoholic version is £19.95 per person. Both include the same Council Tapas sharing board for the group.
A 7.5% discretionary service charge is added to the bill at the end. That’s on top of the per-head price, so worth factoring in when you’re splitting it out.
Is that reasonable for Newcastle? Yes. Breakfast and brunch bookings have surged 65% over the last two years as experiential dining has taken off, and pricing across the city reflects that. At £41.95 you’re getting 90 minutes of unlimited drinks and food included, in a venue with a personality. Compare that to a standard night out where you’re buying rounds all evening and the maths starts to look pretty obvious.
What is actually included in the bottomless brunch?
Drinks: Unlimited lager, prosecco, spirits and mixers, and cocktail fishbowls. The fishbowl flavours on our menu are Passionfruit Punch, Toon Island, Sexy Time, Cherry Buzzbowl, Giant Strawb, and F5 Hit The Refresh.
Food: One Council Tapas sharing board per group. That’s turkey dinosaurs, chicken nuggets, fish fingers, chips, beans, and smilies. One board per booking, not one per person. This is the most common misunderstanding. Plan for it.
If you’re vegan or vegetarian, let us know at booking and you’ll get chickenless nuggets and fishless fingers in place of the meat and fish. Gluten-free? Same deal: chicken nuggets, fish fingers, chips, beans, and smilies. Both alternatives need to be flagged at booking time, not on the day.
What’s not included: Shots. Shots have their own separate paid menu if you want them, but they’re not part of the unlimited package. The Licensing Act requires venues running bottomless promotions to operate responsibly, and that means shots don’t go on the tab. Anyone telling you otherwise is either at a different venue or about to get served a watered-down prosecco.
What time does bottomless brunch start?
It depends on which venue you book.
Dean Street runs Wednesday to Sunday. Saturday slots are 12pm, 1pm, 2pm, 3pm, 6pm, and 9pm.
Pink Lane runs Fridays and Saturdays only. Slots are 12pm, 2:30pm, and 5pm, with an additional 6pm slot on Fridays.
Pink Lane is the smaller of the two venues, so slots go even faster there. If you’ve got a specific time in mind, don’t assume it’ll be available the week before you want it.
What are the rules for bottomless brunch?
There aren’t many, but the ones that exist are non-negotiable.
Finish your drink before ordering the next one. This is a legal requirement, not just a house preference. Venues running bottomless promotions are required to avoid encouraging rapid consumption, and that means one drink at a time.
You get told your end time on arrival. There’s no “last orders” bell. When you sit down, we tell you when your 90 minutes is up. After that, you’re done. It’s your job to make sure you get your final round in before the clock runs out.
Arrive 15 minutes early. Your 90 minutes starts at your slot time, not when you walk through the door. Turning up late doesn’t extend your session. Turning up early means you’re seated and ready to go the moment it kicks off.
The service charge is discretionary. It’s 7.5%, added to the bill. You can ask to have it removed if something went badly wrong. In practice, it rarely gets removed because service at The Mad House tends to be the thing people mention first in their reviews.
Dietary requirements at booking, not on the day. If you or anyone in your group has dietary needs, flag them when you book. Leaving it until you’re sitting in the bar swinging on a toilet seat is too late.
One last thing: the seating. We have swings, toilet seats, and all sorts. That’s the standard experience. If you need conventional seating for any reason, request it when you book. It’s a listed building with no lift, and the toilets are on the third floor.
How do you not get drunk at bottomless brunch?
Genuinely useful question, and one the PAA data says thousands of people are actually googling. The honest answer: eat the food, alternate with soft drinks if you want, and remember it’s 90 minutes, not all day.
The session is built to be a good time, not a blackout. The pace is the same as a normal lunch: you finish a drink, you order another. Nobody’s refilling your glass when you’re not looking. The food board is there for a reason. Use it. Turkey dinosaurs exist at The Mad House for multiple purposes.
If you’re on the non-alcoholic package at £19.95, you get unlimited mocktails, soft drinks, and juice alongside the same food board. It’s not a lesser experience. It’s just a different one, and it’s properly catered for.
Is bottomless brunch worth it?
Yes, with one condition: you have to show up ready to use the 90 minutes well.
The people who leave disappointed are almost always the ones who turned up late, didn’t eat, or expected shots to be included. The people who leave glowing are the ones who booked ahead, arrived early, leaned into the fishbowls, and treated it like an event rather than a drink.
18 to 24-year-olds are 14 percentage points more likely to seek out bottomless brunches, and women are 15 percentage points more likely to choose them over a standard dining out occasion. The format works because it removes friction: fixed price, fixed time, food and drink sorted, no arguments over the bill.
We had a group of 13 in not long ago. One organiser, everything pre-arranged, zero drama on the night. Michelle’s review said it all: lovely staff, brilliant fun, definitely coming back. That’s what it looks like when someone sets it up properly. You can read more about what makes a great night in Newcastle in our cocktail bar guide.
How far in advance should you book bottomless brunch?
As early as you can manage. Saturday sessions fill up first, often weeks in advance. If you’ve got a hen do, a birthday, or a group coming in from out of town, don’t assume there’ll be availability the week before.
Deposits are non-refundable but they’re transferable. If plans change and you get in touch at least two weeks before your session, we’ll move your deposit to a new date. Leave it later than that and you’ll lose it.
Our rule of thumb: if you know the date, book the date. The Mad House’s tourism footfall is part of a North East visitor economy worth £5.4bn to the region. Newcastle weekends get busy. The venues do too.
Ready to book?
Two venues. Dean Street five days a week. Pink Lane on Fridays and Saturdays.
Book your slot now and pick your session. If you’ve got questions, get in touch before you book. We’d rather answer them upfront than have you arrive expecting something different.