The King & Queen, Brighton

Large high-ceilinged decorative pub. Stained glass windows above the bar and a large unused fireplace. One of few places around showing the cricket on Sky. Three handpumps Pride, Deuchars and Sussex Best.

I was taken here last night by colleagues who are residents of Brighton and I can confirm from them that the King & Queen is indeed the premier Sport and Karaoke destination pub for the younger target demographic of Brighton. Last night was Karaoke night, and although usually I would run a million miles from one of these evenings, once dragged through the impressive entrance hall past the bouncers I have to say the standard here was certainly a cut above the usual drunken caterwauling that is my experience. In fact there were many Korean and Japanese students in last night for the night who, as we know, take their Karaoke very seriously. The massive screen was down and showing highlights of the Under21 championships, but I seemed to be one of the very few getting depressed by the sport being shown and it was largely being ignored by nearly everyone else. The exterior and interior of this pub are both fantastic as previously reported and I actually enjoyed myself more by wandering off to explore all the different regions ,mezzanine floor areas hiding pool tables and period brik-a-brak, and the outside courtyard area. But eventually you have to come back to the long bar which, despite having a very impressive pump clip collection on the wall behind and two banks of three handpumps along it, clearly has a focus on standard draft options, alcopops and shots more akin to a Yates bar. Fortunately the Deuchars IPA coming out of one of the few working pumps was actually passable, so at least I had something to drink.. If you’re into Sport and Karaoke in a noisy party atmosphere, I see no reason why you wouldn’t like it here. For those of us who are now past that, it’s well worth popping in during the day to have a good look at this pub, but then move on before evening falls..

Ye Olde King and Queen has an impressive Tudor style exterior and a claim is made that the courtyard full of seating to the right of the pub is original. The interior of this pub is vast and there are two massive projector screens on either side wall for showing every football match of the season. There is a lot more standing room than seating, but there is more seating upstairs along with a pool room. It was busy on Tuesday evening as people had come to watch the two Champions League games that were being shown on the two projector screens. The management seem to be targeting a younger demographic as there is a late license every night, karaoke on Tuesdays and Thursdays are student night with cheap drinks. In amongst the sea of standard draught products on the bar are a few hand pumps that were drawing Pride, Autumn Red and Harveys Best with other being unused. This place is worth a look, but now I have been I doubt that I’ll return anytime soon.

Close to Brighton Dome and Grand Parade, on the opposite side of the green, is The King and Queen, a large impressive looking building with a spectacular black and white Tudor style frontage. High up on the frontage above a window, statues of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn look down on us on the pavement below. Large oak doors lead into a large baronial style hall with high ceilings, decorative stained glass leaded windows, decorative panelling and plasterwork etc. In the middle of the room, a curved country house style staircase leads to an upstairs Minstrels Gallery, which affords a fine view of the downstairs bar area. An area upstairs here – Prinnys Bar – is available for private hire. On the left at the side of the bar counter is a wood panelled billiards room with a decorative fireplace and some more coloured stained glass windows. Directly above the bar servery on the other side is an unusual small balcony – known as The Royal Box – which looks to be an alteration to the original layout. An information panel on the wall tells us that the original building on the site was constructed in 1779 as a farmhouse and was named in honour of George III and Charlotte, whose 60 year reign ended in 1820. The main banqueting hall was formerly the headquarters of the Brighton Corn Exchange. The present building dates back to the 1930’s and includes a courtyard on the right with a separate gatehouse style entrance. The pub is listed in CAMRA’s National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors. Whilst the pub is undoubtedly visually stunning, there appears to be an emphasis on televised sports. On my recent Saturday afternoon visit, 2 seriously massive drop down screens at each end of the long hall were showing a Tottenham game – slightly surprisingly, since it only seemed to be a pre season friendly. The pub heavily promotes cocktails and shooters and discount doubles and, with a clientele at the lower end of the social spectrum, I strongly suspect that there are times when the pub is best avoided. I also have to report that the pub appears to have a rather liberal approach to serving people who are rather the worse for wear ( no, I’m not referring to myself ) . On my recent Saturday afternoon visit, a youngish male, who had quite rightly been refused service earlier in The Heart and Hand, was clearly making a nuisance of himself and antagonising other customers in the outside courtyard. He came very close to being thumped by one strong fit looking man in particular. In fairness to the pub management, he had been noticed and was being closely watched, but it didn’t exactly create a welcoming ambience. The long straight bar counter, which runs the length of the room, has a couple of pumps servings Harveys Best and London Pride, but this is not a pub devoted to catering for the real ale enthusiast. If you’re a big fan of characterful and historic pub interiors, you should seriously consider looking this one out, but you may want to pick carefully your time to visit