Hurst Arms, Old Town, Eastbourne

I walked into the Hurst Arms through the left hand door last Wednesday and was confronted by a small room with bar that looked like it was more likely to serve up cream teas and scones than quality ales. Thankfully this section isn’t the extent of the pub as the much larger L shaped bar on the right hand side was very busy with locals watching Arsenal play in the Champions League on a plasma at the rear of the pub and some more were watching Man U(re) on the screen located at the front. This side of the bar also houses a dartboard, pool table and bar billiards so there is never a dull moment. The jukebox was obviously switched off, but there is also a quiz machine for those brainier than me. When a pub has all of these distractions I usually end up writing that there is only a standard selection of draught available from the bar, but this is a Harveys pub and pretty much their whole range was available from hand pump (Sussex Old Ale, Armada, Best, Star of Eastbourne, Dark Mild) and Thatchers Gold Cider was also available on draught. The woman working the jump was polite, but I must say that the Guinness I received wasn’t the best – hopefully this was a one off! I didn’t spot any food advertised, but there was a reassuring smell of roast beef flavoured Monster Munch wafting around the pub. There is some seating outside the front of the pub that is covered by two jumbrellas and there is also a beer garden at the rear that has more covered seating. I thought that the locals were a down to earth bunch and I enjoyed the atmosphere so would have no problem returning.