Hand in Hand, Brighton

Well reviewed by both JB and Quinno below and I've nothing to add to their descriptions. Suffice to say that we visited here twice during our only day in Brighton. Once at lunchtime and again for a last one in the evening. Only one Kemptown beer on during our visit, but it, and the other beers were all in good nick. Great craic with the locals as well.

Corner pub with a quirky interior that has various curios and the walls and ceiling covered with pictures,jugs and ties. 5 real ales.

Very much like Steve below , my kind of boozer, even smaller than I was expecting,some Kemptown beers were on but I opted for 360 degrees West Coast IPA,very good,the interior is the same as described by Pubsignman a couple of years ago, there was some very interesting eclectic and ethnicy music playing at a decent level. Not overly busy at the time of my visit but a good sprinkling of punters,it won't take many to fill this place.A very good pub.

This small corner pub is my kind of boozer. Traditional well worn decor, Characterful locals (some of which have to be taken with a pinch of salt when they refuse to acknowledge you or move slightly on their prime position stalls so that you can see the pumps) and great beer. Been well described below so won’t repeat any of that. Fortunately the in house brewery ales were on with two available for my visit and the Thirty Three went down a treat. Smashing little pub.

Located just a short distance from the beach front, this tiny single room pub is also the home of the Kemptown Brewery. Sadly on my visit, no Kemptown beers were available, but a note written on a blackboard explained that brewing ceased for a while but was set to resume again soon. Despite the small size of the pub, there is plenty of stuff crammed inside to keep you distracted. The short servery is in the far corner with the rest of the carpeted room taken up by bench seating and some standard tables along two of the walls, plus a drinking ledge with high stools to the rear. An upright piano fills up one corner of the room and has an old sewing machine and a pile of books on top, whilst a huge Kempton Brewery sign is propped up against the exposed brick wall next to the servery. The window sills have a large collection of hot water bottles on them and there is an old-fashioned fruit machine near to the front door. The walls at the rear of the pub have been papered with old advertisements and newspaper pages from the 1950’s and 60’s. Old photos of the pub can be found here as well as various CAMRA awards from years gone by. The ceiling is covered with all manner of objects including mugs, tankards, photos of Victorian era nudes, ski poles, broomsticks and a tie collection that runs along a central beam. It may all sound cluttered and chaotic but I found it was a nice comfortable room, although I was lucky enough to grab a seat, which many others weren’t, forcing them to take their drinks to the pavement outside. The lack of Kemptown beers was more than made up for by the strong selection available in their place. I had a choice of St Austell Tribute, Otter Amber (£3.20), Arundel Stronghold, Adnams Southwold Bitter, Brains Milkwood and Harviestoun Bitter and Twisted. The keg range was pretty interesting as well and included something from Meantime and Delirium Tremens. I enjoyed a very pleasant pint of the Otter Amber served to me by a friendly barmaid. I really liked the feel of this pub, which sees itself as an important part of the local community and is a keen promoter of the Kemptown area. It’s a shame the brewery wasn’t up and running, but when it’s back on track again, I would suggest that this place will become a must-visit pub once again.

Another striking building, located just off the seafront in the Kemptown area. Half the reason for coming here was the lure of the Kemptown brewery beers (heftily advertised on the building’s exterior) but – quelle surprise – they weren’t on and there was no indication they had appeared at any time in the recent past. Given how many other people have experienced this on here and elsewhere, I think it’s all rather a swizz. Anyway there were five ales on at least: Sadlers (good), Dark Star Partridge, Adnams Bitter, Black Sheep and a Brains summer ale. Also Kriek beers on draught and Belgian bottles. I vaguely recall a cider but didn’t note what it was. The interior is pretty small yet home to a large catalogue of bric-a-brac (fairy lights, lips under top bar, varnished newspapers on far wall, one arm bandit, board games, ties, jugs, pictures of various Victorian ladies amongst other things) as well a lucid red and blue carpet. Music choice I have written as ‘Arab dune’, so clearly not your average. It’s a good few minutes out of the city centre and given the annoying lack of Kemptown brewery beers don’t necessarily miss out other places in order to specially do this one. It’s still worth a visit if you have the entire day at your disposal though. If I could give it 6.5, I would.

The Hand in Hand is a tiny single room pub that had an overpowering smell of incense wafting about on Tuesday evening last week. There was some jazz music playing and I found the governor to be very friendly. The bar supports six hand pumps and these were drawing W J King’s Old Ale, Harviestoun’s Bitter and Twisted, Hyde’s Owd Oak Dark, Bakehouse’s Cupcake, Hammerpot’s Bottle Wreck porter and Brain’s Bread of Heaven. There was also a decent range of draught which consisted of Becks Vier, Liefmans, Hacker-Pschorr, Meantime’s Helles, Stowford Press cider and Guinness. This pub certainly has the most interesting range of beers this side of Brighton and is probably worth the trek for beer lovers. Also, I think that it is a close call whether this or the Queensbury Arms is the smallest pub in Brighton. If I had to guess I would say that the Hand in Hand just shades it.