Every Pub in Brighton #36-40
Entry eight. It’s over a year late. Sorry mate. Four out of the five pubs in this one are pretty good. One is pretty not. Get your eyes around my ramblings below!
#36 // Royal Sovereign
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Address: 66 Preston St, Brighton BN1 2HE
Date visited: November 2022
Preston Street is known as ‘restaurant street’ and it doesn’t take a brain genius to work out why. Not only is there an abundance of eating options, but the quality is sky-high too. Fittingly, I came to Preston Street for some food - Mexican taqueria Halisco were hosting a Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) special three-course menu and being a taco pervert, I booked a table quick smart.
Before the ingesting commenced, I headed next door but one to the Royal Sovereign as I was a little early so I decided to tick another pub off of the list. Despite the plethora of restaurants on Preston Street, this is only one of two pubs proper (there are several cocktail bars but they don’t count). The pub has an island bar as you enter to the right and the requisite banquette and stools for seating options dotted throughout. There’s even a beer garden with benches and covered seating though I didn’t partake as it was quite chilly.
After a confusing exchange with the barman (“A pint of Little Hazy please”, “Neck Oil?”, “Little Hazy”, “…oh, Hazy Jane”, “No… Little Hazy” *points at tap* - they didn’t even have Neck Oil or Hazy Jane on draught!), I perched near the doorway whilst I waited for my taco teammate (aka my wife) to arrive. Despite the pub being amidst so many restaurants it still retains a bit of a local feel and the old-fashioned decor was weirdly comforting. As was the roaring fire I was just in range of to benefit from.
The *checks notes* Little Hazy from Unbarred was decent - a tasty little number for sub 5% that went down so easily that I had another. The pint ordering was less confusing this time around. This is a decent option if you’re in the area for some grub and need to whet the whistle beforehand. Or after. I’m not the boss of you.
Also, the meal at Halisco slapped (chicken mole, chorizo tacos and horchata ice cream washed down with an obligatory margarita). Muy bueno!
#37 // Easy Tiger at the Hampton Arms
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Address: 57 Upper North St, Brighton BN1 3FH
Date visited: November 2022
Situated just one block from the hustle and bustle of Western Road and Churchill Square is this absolutely delightful pub.
I’d been meaning to visit for quite a while and so what better excuse than to visit when a friend was in Brighton for the weekend (Hi Chris mate!). It was also the same weekend that Verdant had taken over the taps at several pubs throughout Brighton (this sounds familiar) so it was the perfect fusion of friends, food, fun times and f…beer.
The Hampton Arms was taken over by the people who run The Pond in 2018 and they launched a new food venture in collaboration with chef Sabu Joseph called Easy Tiger from the pub kitchen. Due to its success, the pub is known as Easy Tiger now - probably because ‘Easy Tiger at the Hampton Arms’ is a bit of a mouthful. Sabu cut his teeth at two highly regarded Indian restaurants in Brighton (The Chilli Pickle and Curry Leaf Cafe) before taking the reins in the kitchen at the Hampton Arms and developing the Indian street food and small plate offering.
We needed food to line the stomach ahead of a day of showing my friend some of my favourite pubs (as well as some new ones) in Brighton so did the sensible thing and got a mixture of small plates and had a glorious time. Paired with the aforementioned Verdant beers, it was a surefire hit, even if these white boys found some of the dishes way spicier than they were billed on the menu.
I came back for a subsequent visit as part of the Brighton Independents Pub Crawl 2023 and it was just as good if not better the 2nd time around. Mainly because I had the Kerala fried chicken this time and it ruled.
#38 // The Hope & Ruin
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Address: 11-12 Queens Rd, Brighton BN1 3WA
Date visited: November 2022
Before I started this silly little project, I’d already heard of The Hope & Ruin as I’d seen it listed on tour posters for several bands playing in Brighton and figured I’d end up there at some point when we moved. Fittingly, there was some sort of music event happening the evening we were there (Karma Sheen according to this event page).
It’s another Laine pub that feels unique compared to the others in Brighton. It’s full of reclaimed items and has a definite indie/alternative vibe, which I think is deliberate given the aforementioned music offering. The music events are at the forefront of all that they do resulting in a loyal following and constant level of custom throughout the year. That and the fact it’s a very short stroll from the station, I guess. There’s also a permanent kitchen that operates out of a caravan in the corner of the pub from Beezlebab offering plant-based kebabs, hot dogs, loaded fries and lots more.
ABYSS Brewing (from down the road in Lewes) had taken over the taps on our visit so I settled on a pint of Cult Leader - an oat pale made with mosaic, amarillo, sabro and strata. It was great from what I remember.
Weirdly, I haven’t been back at time of writing this but I do have a few gigs lined up there which will correct that post-haste.
#39 // The Star & Garter
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Address: Kings Rd, Brighton BN1 1NE
Date visited: November 2022
After the Hope & Ruin, we visited The Evening Star and The Hole in the Wall so I could show my compadre how great they are. He obviously concurred, so we obviously had a couple in each. Obviously. I had a desire that could only be sated by going to a new pub on the list so we waltzed along the seafront to The Star & Garter.
The pub was previously called Doctor Brightons before it was acquired by the same people behind The Pond and Easy Tiger (see above) in 2018. After a lengthy renovation process (‘member COVID?), it re-opened as The Star & Garter in early 2022. I should say re-re-opened as before it was called Doctor Brightons it was originally The Star & Garter Hotel in Victorian times. It apparently had several famous guests such as Winston Churchill, Charlie Chaplin and King Edward VIII.
The latest iteration is fantastic and has slotted into the Brighton streets seamlessly. The outside has included some old-fashioned signage and more modern metal lettering on the front facade. Inside, the place is all moody dark green and dark wood with has splashes of colour courtesy of the little motifs dotted across the walls. There’s also a fetching fish-themed wallpaper near the front. Food is provided by pizza maestros, Cutie Pies who specialise in Detriot-style pizza pies (rectangular pan pizza with a thick, crisp, chewy crust). I definitely need to go back for one of these.
As this was near the end of a lengthy drinking session, my recollection is a little hazy. Much like the beer!!! (I’m sorry.) Verdant’s MaryLou on tap will never not be fantastic so we supped on them and probably put the world to rights. I did return as part of the Brighton Indendents’ Beer Crawl ‘23 in a slightly less inebriated fashion, which is how I’ve remembered what it looks like. Great pub!
Our final stop of the day was The Walrus but due to previously mentioned merriment, I only have a vague recollection of being there so it’s unfair to include it at this juncture. Fear not, I have returned there since to right my wrong and tick it off properly. Review coming in a future post.
#40 // George Street Tap
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Address: 4-5 George St, Hove BN3 3YA
Date visited: November 2022
The final pub in this entry takes us to Hove and the pedestrianised George Street for the imaginatively named George Street Tap.
What is it with places named ‘X Street Tap’ being so generic? I can probably tell you why - it’s likely because they are owned by Stonegate Pub Co, the largest pub company in the UK with around 4,800 premises. The George Street Tap is one of their ‘Crafted Social’ offerings - an attempt at being a modern ‘craft’ location. It’s essentially faux craft Wetherspoons that shows sport. Which is weird when there is an Actual Wetherspoons* directly opposite.
(Also, 22 of their 136 ‘Crafted Social’ locations have some variation of ‘Tap’ in their name, which seems unusually high to me.)
We came here for lunch on a listless Saturday and I had a Punk IPA and some sort of Hunter’s Chicken-esque dish that were both fine, I guess?
I don’t like to be too critical of pubs (especially when the hospitality industry is so fucked) so I’ll just leave it at that. It’s probably exactly as you imagine it in your head.
(*It was opposite The Cliftonville Inn until Wetherspoons closed it in March 2023. I never got to visit before it shut but it has been replaced with another pub which is now on the list!)
