The Tavern, Horley

I knew this place back in the day as the Gatwick, a King and Barnes pub. It seems from the pictures that it was only recently changed by the Badger Brewery to the current name. I wonder why they thought it was necessary to do that. From the K&B days I don't recall it being anything other than a basic town boozer which it still is. Sadly that includes all the stuff I don't like in a pub namely Pool, Karaoke, Open Mic, TV Screens and live music. It's a single wooden floored room with the pool table on the left as you enter and the bar at the rear. The raised area at the front had normal tables and chairs and the only other furnishings consisted of a few tall tables and chairs. I didn't notice a dart board. The two TV screens were tuned to a music video channel in fact playing one by Sam Smith (that's the singer not the Yorkshire Brewery!). It was empty on my Thursday lunchtime visit. There are five hand pump here with a single one selling cider. The main bank of four had one unused, one with a turned clip, Sussex Best and Tanglefoot. I went for the Sussex Best (£3.10) which was in reasonably good nick and I still think is a fair approximation of the old King and Barnes original. For me the best K&B pubs tended to be in rural locations rather than this town one and I can't say I was all that impressed with it as the Airfield Tavern.

I visited the Airfield Tavern around 20:30 on a recent Saturday evening when a band was setting up on a raised area by the front windows that look out onto the High Street. The bar faces the stage and a couple of high tables can be found in the area in between which I imagine also acts as a dancefloor. Conventional seating runs down the length of the left and right walls and a pool table had been covered in preparation of the live music. A standard draught range alongside Peroni and Amstel was available from the bar. Hall and Woodhouse’s Leaping Legend and King and Barnes Sussex Bitter were the cask ale options. If memory serves me correctly there was also a hand pump drawing Old Rosie cider. There was some background music playing from the jukebox, but this was drowned out by the sound of “one, two”, “one, two” said over and over and over again in every tone known to man. I decided to escape to the alley down the side of the pub where there are some picnic tables. On the way I passed a couple of high chairs stacked upon each other at the rear so I would guess that food is available during the day when children are welcome. At the rear of the pub is an enclosed beer garden with some more picnic tables. As well as live music on a Saturday night there is a weekly quiz at 20:00 on Thursdays and an open mic session from 20:00 on Wednesdays. I thought this to be a friendly enough local and I would have no problem returning if in the area.

The Gatwick, a hall and Woodhouse house, is a decent town centre pub a few minutes' walk from the railway station. A bit shabby around the edges, it consists of a large single room separated into two areas by a wood and glass partition. There are no frills, furniture is plain pine, entertainment is a dart board and Sky tv. Simple, good value food is on offer at a reasonable price. It was busy but friendly when I went in, and I was served quickly and with a smile. There were 3 ales on, 2 H&W and a guest, all well kept and quite drinkable. A pleasant place to spend a few hours, and a must for a town crawl.