The Cobden Arms, Brighton

The Cobden Arms is located down a residential street off Elm Grove and the only way any non-locals would know of its existence is by the A board at the end of the road. When I visited yesterday evening the A board and many signs around the pub were listing the ‘January sales’ draught prices which weren’t that much cheaper than prices in the other pubs of the area. This is a free house so I was a little disappointed to find a bar stocked with San Miguel, standard draught and a lone hand pump that was drawing Bombardier. The service was friendly and the ten or so locals all seemed harmless enough. There is a plasma screen that was showing a Football League match via Sky and there is a projector screen in the rear seating area in this L shaped pub. The projector wasn’t being used, but I imagine it comes down for the big games – especially if Brighton is playing. There is a pool table and a dartboard and on the wall in the rear seating area there is an emergency dartboard. There is a jukebox on the wall and some very low background music was playing. There is a decked area for smokers out the back and on the path outside the front of the pub there is some wall seating, again for smokers. I liked it in here as it has a proper local feel and I would have no problem returning for a few jars.