LOVERS of trendy bars, spit-and-sawdust pubs and restaurants will soon be able to plan out their nights thanks to a new map that pulls together Darlington’s drinking establishments.

Steve Lovell has created maps for other town in the country using the design of the London Underground map as the inspiration for his creations.

And after being asked to do a similar job for Darlington, as a birthday present for someone, he has researched the town and some of its surrounding villages to come up with a version to tempt all tastes.

Alongside the town centre venues covered in the Underground-style map, are drinking holes from Heighington, Sadberge, Middleton St George, High and Low Coniscliffe, and Hurworth and Croft.

Mr Lovell said: “I’ve previously done other maps for Leeds, Wakefield and Bradford, and late last year I completed all of West Yorkshire by doing the Calderdale and Kirklees areas.

“I also recently did a map of York. I was only prompted to to Darlington because I was asked to do it for someone’s birthday present, but hopefully some other people from Darlington will also get to see and like it.

“I always admired the design of the London Underground map and a few years ago I decided to see if I could make a map of pubs instead of stations that would cover all of Leeds. I was really pleased with the result and the map has been quite popular – there are 586 on that one.

“I spent a week of evenings getting information from maps and other online sources and then making all that information into a geometrical map in the iconic style of Harry Beck’s London Underground diagram.

“Although the map is mostly pubs and bars it also includes many restaurants and hotels with decent bar areas, but no clubs of any kind. There are 92 places on the Darlington map.

“Unfortunately, unlike for my other maps, I don’t currently have any plans to make a trip to Darlington to enjoy some of the places to drink. I might still do it though.”

  • The design is about A3 size and is for sale along with the maps for other areas at www.albanydesign.co.uk for £12.50 including delivery.