Kings Head, Hailsham

Harvey's pub located south of the town centre in a locality still known in the vicinity as Cacklebury but you'd be hard pushed to find that on a modern map. Anyway, the simply furnished interior comprises the bar in the centre and the pool / darts area on the right-hand side (both with primrose paintwork), plus a separate lounge off to the left (with a darker colour scheme). Just Sussex Best (£4.40) available from the three handpumps, but that was in fine shape as you would expect.

Official site of Kings Head - www.kingsheadcacklebury.co.uk

Official site of Kings Head - www.kingsheadcacklebury.co.uk

I popped into the Kings Head with the family on a Monday at the start of the Christmas period. Upon entry we discovered that, unlike every other day of the week, food is not normally available on Mondays. Thankfully the man and wife team that run this pub are extremely hospitable and they had no problem knocking us up some food, which was very nice. I didn’t keep a note of what our lunch cost, but I did note that the pub mains are priced around the £8 mark. Standard draught was available from the bar and the four supported hand pumps were all drawing Harvey’s ales. The interior of the pub consists of a bar area with pool table and dartboard which is accessed through the entrance. In the left hand side of the pub is a seating area and another dartboard. This is also where access can be gained to a large grass covered beer garden that has picnic tables and a covered area. To the right of the bar there is also a sunken seating area that my young daughter referred to as the hidey hole. I didn’t note the presence of any televisions, but that is not to say that there isn’t one. There was certainly no live sport advertised, but there was some unobtrusive background music playing. Due to the location and the fact that this pub used to shut during the afternoon I had not had the chance to visit before. This is a real shame because this is a superb local boozer that makes me wish I lived a lot nearer. QI: during my visit the Harvey’s horse drawn dray arrived outside (see pic) and the governor informed me that it was the first time it had visited Hailsham since the 1970s. Apparently the dray is always used to deliver ale to Harvey’s pubs in their home town of Lewes.

We started here during a crawl round nearby Lewes on a reccommendation. First in at 5 to 12, we ordered Harveys bitter and settled in. A simply cracking pint of beer, great guvnor & mrs and a nice place to be. The pub is extensivly decorated inside with yellow gloss paint, which is absolutly perfect for the environment, giving a light airy feel to the rooms. We played "Toad" to our own rules because we don't really know what we are doing and had a short game of pool on the excellent table. Second pint was Georgian Dragon, a Harveys beer for April that had been carried over to May as the landlord couldn't sell mild due to lack of interest. All in all a truly suberb village boozer with excellent beer. Would probably have scored a ten if there hadn't been two hand pulls of Harveys Best on the bar, but the Guv did explain that his clients are fery fond of it and clear a barrel and a half a night, so why try to fix it if it aint broke! Worth the trip on the train to Polegate and the bus ride out. Check it out, must be one of the best Harveys pubs around.

Like the Grenadier in Hailsham itself this is another completely unspoilt Harvey's pub. It's not really in Hailsham Town Centre as such but to the South in a tiny village / hamlet called Cacklebury on South Road (the original A22) heading towards Polegate. Like the Grenadier there are proper Public and Saloon bars with dart boards in both and a pool table taking up a large space in the Public bar. This has always been one of my favourite Harvey's pubs and it seemed a bit tidier than I remembered, but that was long before the smoking ban and it looked like it may have had a recent spruce up. On the bar there was Harvey's Best (£3.20) and Old (£3.40) both in excellent nick and served in lined pint glasses, something I don't recall ever seeing before in a brewery tied house unless it was a measured electric pump. This pub gets extra brownie points from me as in Victorian times a distant relative of Aqualung was the landlord. Whether it was a Harvey's pub then I don't know, but I bet the place was really buzzing. My only reservation is the limited opening hours, but it's a rural Ale House and without food probably wouldn't appeal to passing car trade. If one of the bars was made over for just food then it would completely ruin the place. This is definitely one of Harvey's finest and apart from the smoking ban and the pool table has hardly changed since my first visit over 35 years ago. Highly recommended.