Ye Olde Pump House, Hastings

The Old Pump House was always seen as the school's youth club when I was an inmate at Hastings Grammar School. Thirty years later I suspect little has changed. A mate and I had the Bishop's Finger which was sour. two others in or party had the Spitfire which wasn't any better. It's the sort of place which gives the Shepherd Neame brewery a bad name.

This is another Shepherd Neame pub with an unexciting ale choice of Spitfire and Master Brew and the usual limited draught selection. This is a shame as the pub itself is very interesting and I think I can best describe it as feeling like an old pirate ship. As you pass the three or four tables on the main path outside you enter into a small street level bar. The larger main bar is found up some stairs and you will find a dining type area towards the front of the pub and a couple of plasma screens in the main section in the middle. There is a pool room with one table up some more steps at the rear of the pub and there is also a tiny courtyard area outside the back for the smokers. I found the young staff to be very friendly and the music selection was very good, it's just a shame about the range and quality of drinks. I think that this is a pub that you have to visit if you've never been before, maybe on a Sunday for food rather than beer as the roasts were very cheap and they looked lovely.

It's not really hard to miss Ye Olde Pump House. Its medieval frontage is prominent in the picturesque Old Town High Street and just begs to be visited. Much is said about the pub's origins and whether the building is original or just a marvellous recreation and I'm not really going to get into the debate other than to say that there is very little regarding its history that I could trawl up which suggests that it leans more towards the latter. Fake or not, there is no doubt that it ticks all the boxes when it comes to all the charm of an Olde Worlde pub. Plenty of heavy low beamed ceilings, bare floors, off centre walls, latticed windows, old (looking) brick fireplaces, lanterns, pretty much a tourists impression of what a medieval building should be and very impressive it is. The downstairs consists of a small “smugglers” bar, a dark but atmospheric snug with old fishing nets and ship wheels to emphasise the nautical theme. It should be noted that there did not appear to be any hand pumps in this bar. The larger main bar is upstairs and is divided into a couple of rooms across the length of the pub.There are plenty of old photos, theatre posters and brewery mirrors and an interesting section at one end of the bar (labelled “bullshit corner”) has a collection of photos and caricatures of some of the regulars. A couple of flat screens were showing athletics on my recent visit and are presumably geared for sport in general. To the rear is an unobtrusive pool room and there is also a rather tiny patio with limited table space. The beers are a bit of a let down; 3 Shepherd Neame Ales available on my recent visit (Master Brew, Bishops Finger and Spitfire) but quality can be a bit hit and miss (more miss than hit on my visits) and the prices between £2.90 and £3.10 seem a bit high for ales that are not consistently well kept. The pub is certainly worth a visit to marvel at its interior and decide how much is real and how much is fake but it would need a good shake up on the beer front before it can claim any great reputation for anything else.