Ye Olde Pump House, Hastings

Facebook page of Ye Olde Pump House - www.facebook.com

Official site of Ye Olde Pump House - www.yeoldepumphouse.co.uk

Facebook page of Ye Olde Pump House - www.facebook.com

Official site of Ye Olde Pump House - www.yeoldepumphouse.co.uk

Well I can help clear up the issue about the age of this pub by pointing everyone at the rather excellent www.hastingspubhistory.com website which explains the history of this one and other Hastings and St Leonards pubs in a lot of detail. As a pub it is less than 70 years old, having first opened in 1956. Before the Second World War it was three separate dwellings centred on a well-known boot and shoe shop. It owes its mock Tudor frontage to a common activity after the war, when damaged buildings were bought up cheaply, then ‘tudorised’ in the style of Mock Tudor and sold at a good profit. Although this building did suffer some bomb damage it was more damaged by a fire in 1953 which left it derelict and in need of repair. Initially it was only the small downstairs bar but the wife of the second licensee transformed the upstairs room into a fashionable bar room. Today you enter into this room from the entrance up a side alley to the right of the pub. So yes its all fake and completely mock Tudor. But you have to say its all done very well and ticks all the boxes for what the tourist view of a Tudor inn should be. For my visit the upstairs bar hand pumps had Bishops Finger, Whitstable Bay and Citra Smack on three of the pumps with the fourth not in use. This time I went for the Whitstable Bay, and it was perfectly fine. Of the three Shep pubs I probably thought this was the best to visit, even now with the knowledge that it’s a post war build. You can still fool the tourists though by referring to it as Elizabethan, just don’t tell them it’s Elizabeth II. However, if you do want to have a beer in a pub that does have a long history, then you just have to walk over the pedestrianised street to The Anchor opposite. And if you want to visit a pub with a more interesting ale choice, then duck all three of these Shep pubs and head to the Albion at the end of the lane.

A fascinating looking building and as a result rather touristy. It was table service only post lockdown and the service was painfully slow, being a solo drinker the staff emphasis was on the multiple groups of diners,unable to move around the pub being table bound and faced with the only available cask beer being a rather bland Shepherd Neame Masterbrew, I didn't much enjoy my short stay here.