The Snowdrop Inn, Lewes

Visited 07/02/25. Visited previously on 11/05/19. Two hand pulls providing Harvey's Sussex Best and Old Ale. This place has a really good keg range, with Guinness, London Black from Anspach & Hobday, The Wrong Door IPA, Arise and Quench a NZ pale all from Burning Sky, Bongo tropical IPA from Only With Love, Hazed & Confused from the Loud Shirt Brewing Co, Whisper pale ale from Floc, Pilot cider from Ascencion, Silver Lining cider from South Downs, Franken Bier, Rothaus Pilsner and Keller Pils from Lost & Grounded. This is, in my opinion, remains a good pub option in Lewes town “centre” but perhaps not as good as of yesteryear! It is on the way out of the town centre and a good stop off on the way to the Beak taproom. The bar counter is a three-sided affair with seating on all sides albeit the larger part of the seating is on the left-hand side of the bar. Indeed, seating throughout is via regular tables and chairs, nothing fancy like banquettes or wing-back armchairs here! There is a nice, secluded table in the corner at the far-right side of the bar but sadly occupied on arrival from a Friday evening session here. Bare boarded on floor, walls and ceiling with ceiling art pieces made from reconstituted hub caps and a fair quotient of warm white fairy lights. A mish mash of framed items on every square millimetre of the wall space. Picnic style benches on both external sides of the pub and a nice beer garden out the back with the white chalk cliffs behind. Definitely a nice place to sit outside in better evenings than today! We were glad to get a corner table inside close to a radiator! There was an upstairs area that seemed to be much busier accessed via a spiral staircase to the right of the entrance but didn't venture to check.

With the nearby Beak Brewery Taproom closed, we headed to the Snowdrop, which was my favourite pub in Lewes when I last visited this end of town back in the summer of 2016. The pub has gone drastically downhill since then. 5 years ago there were 6 real ales and a real cider. On this visit, there was just Harvey's Sussex Best Bitter & Burning Sky Plateau, with no real cider. I opted for the Beak Parade from keg, which was an eyewatering £7.50 per pint. The interior of the pub is still very nice, but not as popular as the last time I came. With a much reduced beer selection and exorbitant pricing, I can see why.

The building itself isn't anything particularly remarkable but the setting catches the eye with the pub backing on to white chalk cliffs. Inside as noted before is quite quirky, a quality I quite enjoy in a pub, plenty of oddments on the walls and hanging from the ceiling, the bar front boldly painted would not look out of place on a narrow boat and indeed there were a couple of knitted dolls of Rosie and Jim sat on a nearby piano. Seven handpumps and beer line up much more up my street than the bulk of Harveys dominated Lewes,Five beers were on from Siren, Pig & Porter , Gun, Wild Beer and Burning Sky, the Aurora from the latter was a decent drop.Certainly a pub worthy of returning to.