The Clown, Hastings

Small very basic, single roomed locals pub, the few locals present on my visit were definitely on the weird side of life but ultimately harmless. Three handpumps on the bar, the lone ale was Doom Bar accompanied by Orchard Pig Explorer Cider,I settled for half a Guinness. An interesting place but one I am unlikely to make a return visit.

A tiny unspoilt gem of a basic boozer, or a run-down back street dive: take your pick. There is one small room with benched sides and odd bits of wrought iron, possibly dating from a 70's facelift, but nothing much has been done since. Personally I find pubs like this make a good antidote to vast commercial chain establishments but, whether you like them or not, sadly their days are numbered so experience them while you can. Anyway, beerwise it offers a couple of Long Man beers on pump, which were regrettably off so I was stuck with the Doom Bar but condition was good.

The Clown is a tiny single room pub on Russell Street which is a little back road in the heart of Hastings’ shopping area. The local crowd in attendance when I visited on Friday night were… erm… interesting if not very friendly. The barman was very friendly and along with some limited standard draught products the bar supports three hand pumps that were drawing Harveys Best, Doom Bar and Bombardier. There was some rock music playing in the background and unsurprisingly there is a bit of a clown theme that I found slightly creepy as I’m not a big fan of men in makeup. Some would call this pub quirky and others would say weird, but either way it’s not one for me and I’ll give it a miss when next in the area.