The Walrus, Brighton

This is a rather smart food-led pub, just off the seafront, but down a quiet enough road to avoid it getting totally overrun. An entrance lobby leads into a long, narrow room which is carpeted throughout and has a mix of dark wood panels and floral print wallpaper. The front part of the room acts as a plush seating area with nice long curved banquettes under tall front windows, whilst smart chairs serve a few other tables. The walls are covered with a lot of paintings, adverts, mirrors and other such items, and this extreme decor extends down the right-hand wall, opposite the bar, where a few high tables and stools can be found. The bar appears midway down the left-hand wall and has a nice curved dark wood counter and a pain bar back lined with horse brasses. A doorframe has been retained to show the split between former front and back bar areas, now leading through to a rear space that looks like it’s best suited to diners, with a few padded bench booths to one side and more plush banquettes along the rear wall. There are loads more pictures on display back here, although not with quite the same density as in the front part of the pub. A few potted plants add some welcome greenery and there were signs for a roof terrace, which I didn’t explore, although it sounded like there might be live music somewhere upstairs. The food menu looked pretty good, although prices were pretty steep, reflecting the seafront location. There are four handpulls on the bar, but two of these were out of action, leaving a choice of Harveys Sussex Best and Gun Pale - the latter of which was in good nick. The staff seemed very nice and there was a good weekend afternoon crowd filling the place up, which made for a lively atmosphere despite the food-led feel of the place. I thought this was a decent pub with a pleasant interior which catered pretty well for drinkers, despite their efforts to appeal more to diners. It has enough of a traditional pub feel to work for a cross-section of customers and a couple of decent ales helps it stand out from other similar pubs in this part of town.

Official site of The Walrus - www.thewalrusbrighton.com

Official site of The Walrus - www.thewalrusbrighton.com

Formerly the Smugglers this 200 year old pub recently opened after a refurb in May after a lengthy closure.This is a deceptively large pub with plenty of antiquities,oddments and other miscellany scattered around plus plenty of space and seating to be had. There were 5 cask beers to go at on my Wednesday evening visit and quite enjoyed my brief stop off here. Upstairs a restaurant operates but I did not venture up there. Worth a visit