Royal Standard, Hastings

The Royal Standard is a Shepherd Neame pub that has a naval theme running throughout as the walls are plastered with all things ship. There is a seating area by the front entrance that had a few friendly locals in situ and the larger bar area that was empty on Monday night has lots of water jugs hanging from the ceiling. There was no music coming from the jukebox during my visit, but I gather that this place has live music at the weekends. The young woman behind the bar was friendly and getting involved in a bit of banter which is always good to see. The Guinness was good, but both hand pumps were off leaving the usual SN draught products of Holsten Export, Oranjeboom etc. I’m not a big fan of Shep pubs, but I liked the atmosphere in here even though it was quiet and I would have no problem returning.