Station Hotel, Preston, Brighton

This is a smart, single room, street corner pub outside the western exit of Preston park station. The room has clearly been opened out from a former multiple room layout, and has exposed floorboards throughout, pretty badly scuffed in the areas with seating, plus low tongue and groove wall panels painted in purple and grey with cream uppers. The bar runs in an L-shape and has a nice high wood panelled counter and a tall, modern mirrored bar back with nice spiral carved support posts and a grand top. Seating around the bar is confined to a few chairs and high stools between the two entrances, but there are opened out seating areas at either end of the room - one on a raised platform with a long pew down one side and standard chairs elsewhere, and the other in a slightly darker space which I didn’t fully explore. The walls have been decorated with modern art prints, small mirrors, wine racks, lots of local photos and an unused TV screen, and I also spotted a collection of board games and a shelf full of books. A few picnic tables have been arranged on the pavement along one side of the building but I didn’t spot any signs of a beer garden. A decent funk and soul soundtrack greeted me on arrival shortly after opening, and I was the only customer right up until I was about to leave. There are three handpulls on the bar, but two were unclipped, leaving the sole option of Harveys Sussex Best. A friendly barman poured me a pint, which was in decent enough shape and went down well after a packed train journey down here. This place lacked a bit of life on my early doors visit, feeling a bit soulless and almost gastro-pub like in its lack of ambiance. I can’t fault the friendly service or moan about the beer, but things didn’t really click for me and I wonder if I might be better served coming back one evening when there’s a few more people about and a better atmosphere.

Official site of Station Hotel - www.stationhotelpubandkitchen.co.uk

Official site of Station Hotel - www.stationhotelpubandkitchen.co.uk

The Station Hotel is aptly named as it is located across the road from Preston Park Railway Station. There were only three other customers when I visited early on Saturday evening a couple of weeks ago, but a very drunk local divulged to me that it had been busier during the day. He also let on that this pub is more popular with afternoon drinkers and it usually empties out during the evening, which I would expect from a station pub. There are a couple of picnic tables out the front and the A board informs readers that there is a quiz from 21:00 on Mondays, Thursdays and Sundays. The residents of Preston must be a clever bunch! The interior of the pub is L shaped with a pool table to the left and a dartboard to the far right. The plasma screen was off, but Sky Sports is shown when football is being played. There was some music playing in the background and the random nature would suggest a jukebox, but I didn’t note it. The bar is stocked with standard draught and supports six hand pumps that were drawing Harvey’s Best (x2), Landlord, Old Speckled Hen, Cottage Brewery’s Between the Posts and Heritage cider. I quite liked it in here as the barmaid was very friendly and there was a good atmosphere even though very quiet. This place is a bit out of the way for non-locals and I wouldn’t get off the train especially to visit, but as railway station pubs go this is one of the better ones.