The Gardener's Arms, Lewes

This is a small, compact two room pub at the eastern end of the High Street. You enter into a small front bar with bare floorboards and textured wallpaper walls. There is enough room for just the one table under the front window with bench and low stool seating and on the left hand wall there is a nice tiled fireplace. The servery has been decorated with an incredible number of pump clips from the Archer’s Brewery and there are a number of CAMRA certificates on display as well. A doorway leads through to a lower second room which is a slightly larger space and accordingly has a few more seating options, mainly in the form of broad benches, all of which were taken up on my visit as the pub was packed out, partly due to a large group of morris dancers who were enjoying a few pints before heading off to perform somewhere. Music was playing fairly quietly in the background and the overall ambiance was warm and welcoming. The ale line-up is detailed on some large blackboards above the servery. The options on my visit were Harvey’s Best and Old Ale, Titanic Engine Room, Rother Valley NIPA and Arkwright’s Local Hero, plus Crazy Goat cider. The boards also detailed four bottled ciders, a decent wine list and the ales that were waiting to come on next. My pint of the Titanic poured quite cloudy, but it tasted very good so I didn’t complain. This is a nice, cosy drinker’s pub with a good range of ale which lends itself to repeat visits. The compact layout and lively atmosphere put me in mind of the Harp in Covent Garden, which is certainly no bad thing. An enjoyable visit and another pub I would say is an essential port of call when visiting Lewes.

A compact two-bar corner freehouse on the old High Street. Eight handpumps offer Harveys plus guest ales from various micros (Hammerpot, Windsor&Eton, Beachy Head, Weltons and Ennerdale on my visit). Black Rat cider is also available as well as a good wine list. I sampled two of the ales and they were both in good nick even if the Beachy Head was, to put it politely, ‘not to my taste’. Friendly, attentive staff in attendance who were happy to engage in chat with us beer tourists. That extended to the welcoming punters who were clearly proud of their pub. Eggs, pickled onions and olives available as bar snacks, with sausages, pork pies and pasties (which come from ‘Bens’ a local organic butcher, fresh in each day) for the more hungry. An eclectic mix of background music too. Severely affected by the Lewes floods and some pictures on the walls commemorate the event. Berwick Rangers and Swindon Town memorabilia stems from the (former, I believe) landlord. Due its compactness, there’s not a huge amount of space or seats so you may end up out in the street. Local game Toad in the Hole available if there’s space. This is a cracking little beer house which is top of my list next time I visit Lewes.