the country estate part-owned by Cummings, where he does his partially sighted driving tests, is roughly half way between two famous pubs, the Cock of the North & the Honest Lawyer.
I'm afraid that Campbell is making up those County Durham pals or it's a very long time since they've been near Durham City. Though it is a lovely and very applicable little story.
Sadly, the Cock of the North was demolished 15, maybe 20, years ago and is now a big block of apartments.
The Honest Lawyer is still there, though. (But I'm sure it used to be called something different 30 years ago...)