Elephant & Castle, Lewes

This is a decent sized two room pub located to the rear of Lewes Castle. Despite the fact that the pub has been opened out quite a lot, there are still distinctly separate areas. The bar has a central position and can be accessed from three sides, although there were lots of people sat on high stools along the counter which meant I initially had some difficulty getting served. There is a bulls head above the bar and an unusual sculpture suspended from the ceiling whilst the walls display the odd bit of brewerania and some interesting posters. To the right of the bar there is a seating area which had been rearranged so that all of the chairs were facing the TV screen which was one of many throughout the pub showing the Man Utd vs Arsenal fixture. To the left of the servery, in what is essentially a second room, there is some more seating, mainly pews and standard chairs around scrubbed tables, as well as a dartboard, pool table and toad in the hole game. A fireplace in the middle of the end wall acts as a nice feature and is flanked by trophy cabinets and some mounted antlers. There is a first floor room available for private functions and an outdoor seating area to the rear of the building. Three ales were on at the bar – the permanent choices of Harvey’s Best and Taylor Landlord plus a guest ale which was Harvey’s Bonfire Boy on my visit. Having opted for a pint of the latter, the barman rather considerately informed me that it was a 5.8% brew and offered me a taster not only of the Bonfire Boy but also of a mix of Bonfire Boy and Best which he said his customers tended to prefer when drinking earlier in the day. All very responsible I thought and the staff in general seemed like a really nice bunch. For the record, I thought the half and half was probably a bad idea and went for the Bonfire Boy regardless, which was a good choice as it was a lovely drop. The pub was packed on my early afternoon visit, with plenty of Sussex based Man Utd fans cheering on their adopted team, but I didn’t mind that too much and thought it had a nice community feel to it. If I wanted to watch some televised sport in Lewes, this would be the first place I’d head to and there was enough about the place to recommend it in its own right as well.

A sports pub with decent beer, great food and a pool table that you can actually play around. I ordered a pint of TT Landlord and a Brie & Bacon baguette. Both were superb and the 6 of us on the crawl settled in for a game of pool. The TV was showing footie and just as we arrived, they rolled up a large projection screen that had been showing an early match. Great locals sports bar, well worth a flying visit.

Situated on a junction, a number of attractive hanging and window baskets plus a previous GBG entry made me try my luck. Three ales (TT Landlord, Harveys Best, Flowers) plus a cider (Westons). My Landlord was fresh and went down very well. Quite a local’s local with a heavy slant towards sport (a muted TV was showing the football) with pool, dartboard and table football in the side room. Food is offered and sounded a bit above the average pub grub as the menu included red snapper - I would have tried some if I wasn’t on such a tight schedule. Plenty of interesting nik-naks inside. There’s a very ornate carved wooden archway by the entrance; a ‘flying’ halloween skeleton on the ceiling; a gigantic framed mock newspaper with some irreverent slants on the towns local issues; stuffed animal heads mounted on the walls; large posters from previous local events adorning the upper bar. On the evidence of this somewhat flying visit I’d be happy to look in again next time I’m in Lewes.