Saint James, Brighton

I popped into the Saint James late on Wednesday evening and found a very comfortable pub. Along with some premium draught products the bar supports four hand pumps that were drawing Franklins EXP, Hophead, Old Peculiar and Theakston Double Cross IPA. There is also a huge list of rums chalked up on a board to the left of the bar. I didn’t sample any though as last time I touched the Pussers I ended up dancing around like a headless chicken. I found the service to be very friendly and worthy of a return visit in its own right. My only gripe would be that I’m not usually a fan of jazz music and the dim red lighting gives me heavy eye lids after a while. I’d still return though as I enjoyed my stay.

Popped into the Saint James on a summer afternoon for a quick pint and could easily have stayed longer. Our Dark Star American Pale Ales went down very nicely and I'm sure we would have tried the Thai food on offer had we not eaten just down the road. I found the pub a friendly place to stay for an hour or so and the large windows made for good people watching.

On the fringes of Kemptown on a busy lively thoroughfare of shops and bars not too far from the seafront is The St James Tavern ( not "Saint James" as recorded on this site ). A rather uninspiring looking exterior leads into a bare boarded single room pub with a long slightly curved wooden bar counter with an attractive bar back and some etched glass. Décor is quite basic with wooden furniture and some fixed bench seating down one side. To a certain extent, it resembles a typical stripped out and opened up Victorian pub, still retaining some vestiges of its past. Unusually, the pub appears to specialise in rums, with an extensive rum menu on the tables and special rum tasting evenings every Tuesday. The back cover of the menu tells us that this pub is part of a small group of pubs – pleisure.com – which includes 3 other pubs in Brighton and, notably, The Speaker in Westminster. A Thai food menu is available. Live music is on Thursday evening – a group with the unendearing name of “Stay Sick” offering what is described as funk, soul and rock and roll. I suppose I’m going to have the PC lobby up in arms for saying this, but this pub appears to be less gay orientated than most in the immediate vicinity. There’s no rainbow flag outside and, on my recent Sunday afternoon visit, a pleasingly wide cross section of customers. There’s 4 pumps which were serving Arundel Sussex Gold, Ballards Wild and 1648 Signature, the latter coming from a micro in East Hoathly ( near Lewes ) The Arundel Gold - £ 3.30p – was a pleasant pint. The pub has Cask Marque accreditation – the individual on the certificate bearing the famous name of John Young. A blackboard outside indicated that guest ales from Dark Star were available, but this proved not to be the case. If you’re walking into town from The Hand in Hand ( or vice versa ) , you’ll probably see this pub. It’s worth considering calling in.

St James Tavern page at the Pleisure pubs site - www.pleisure.com

St James Tavern page at the Pleisure pubs site - www.pleisure.com