The Red Lion, Arundel

My pint of Sussex Arundel Gold came up looking like sludge, but was readily exchanged for a decent pint of Sharp’s Doom Bar. The other ale on was Spitfire, with another pump unused during my visit last Friday. Draft cider (Pickler’s Passion) was also available. I spotted a Cask Marque sign on the outside wall. This pub is set in the heart of Arundel, and is popular with diners if the smell of food when I visited is anything to go by. But I was in there in early afternoon, so I guess I just missed the lunchtime rush. The pub itself is clearly an ancient affair, but there’s nothing of character inside. There are mainly standard tables and chairs, but with a couple of sofas. It’s clearly been extended to the rear at some stage, and this extension in turn leads out to a reasonably sized beer gardeb at the back. I didn’t find anything particularly interesting, or bad, about this pub. It fits neatly into the “OK” category.

Showing some signs of refurbishment in recent years, with plenty of bare-board floors and wooden furniture, the Red Lion seems to be trying to cater for all tastes. There's a strong emphasis on food, although it seemed to me (and, it would appear, a few of the diners) that putting a local band on was an unwelcome and unexpected aural intrusion. Commendably, the pub puts a number of Sussex ales on the bar, with Hammerpot, Dark Star and Arundel among the breweries I've seen (and enjoyed, I should emphasise). The Red Lion attracts a strong and good-natured crowd on a Saturday night, and we're happy to include it on our Arundel crawls.

After walking around Arundel on Tuesday a couple of weeks ago during their annual festival my family and I decided to stop off at the Red Lion for some dinner before making our way back home. This was between 17:00 and 18:00 when there were a couple of locals propping up the bar and a couple enjoying some food. The bar is located on the right hand wall at the front of the pub and the seating stretches up the left to a rear door the leads to a paved beer garden. There is a plasma screen that was turned off and some low background music was playing. I didn’t see any Sky Sports advertisements, but there is live music at the weekends, an acoustic jam session the first Thursday of the month and poker every Monday. The bar is stocked with standard draught and the four hand pumps were drawing London pride, Landlord, Arundel Brewery’s Sussex Gold and Dark Star’s Festival. The food is priced around £10 for a main and I had a decent burger with chips. The onion rings were very greasy and my request for a sausage sandwich with no onions turned up burnt and with onions. We would have sent it back, but we were short of time. I walked away a little disappointed with the food and wouldn’t eat here again. This place is ok for a quick pint, but I suspect that there are better pubs in Arundel.

Routine pub in town centre on the way up to the castle. Slightly gastrified, bare boards, pine tables and so on but friendly enough considering the legions of tourists passing through. Chain pub beer range, St Austell Tribute in poor form when we called in.