The Gardeners Arms, Haywards Heath

Large food-led pub located opposite the South of England Showground and near Wakehurst Place. Various seating and (mostly) dining areas in an overall T-shaped layout, all with a smart, semi-traditional look. As a Hall & Woodhouse house, I was pleased to find the seasonal Shadows Fall (£6.15) in addition to Tangle Foot on two of the three handpumps, with a reversed Fursty Ferret clip on the other one.

Visited 24/09/24 Cask were two Badger staples, the Golden Ale plus the Fursty Ferret. Keg was Moretti, Guinness, Stowford press cider, Amstel, Outlander tropical pale ale, Outlander Helles lager branded as the Gardeners lager, Outlander west coast IPA, Outlander hazy IPA. Another beamed country pub, this time by the large show ground. Some outside seating by the entrance of the pub adequately served by a large car park. Place is tiled or bare boards and seems to mostly attract diners with lots of regular tables and chairs that are suited to sitting and eating. Indeed, you walk through one of these areas near the entrance with the diner’s check-in desk to arrive at the bar counter at the back wall in the middle of the pub. The tables on the wall opposite this of tall variety with high back stools and occupied by drinkers as you would expect. To the right of this is another area laid for diners, who were dutifully chomping away at their choices as I walked through to check the exit to the advertised secret garden! The lighting in the pub was nicely dimmed to create a pleasant ambiance. A couple of wingback armchairs in front of a large fire grate to the left of the bar counter seemed to me to be the ones to bag on a cold evening (not tonight). There looked to be a function room to the left of the fire grate. A table of very nice South Africans dining here provided a nice distraction during my visit as I found their conversation (it was hard to avoid) much more interesting than the actual venue itself. Not really a big fan of the Badger Brewery venues so can't really see myself heading to this one again, albeit I liked the Cowdray Arms when I visited that one. Glad to have ticked off the second of the two Ardingly venues eventually after being turned away on my previous visit as the manager had closed the till ahead of the advertised closing time on a quiet evening. Other venue in Ardingly knocks this one for six!