The Lamb Inn, Lambs Green, Horsham

This is a very well-presented rural pub on the fringes of Rusper which should appeal to the drinker and diner alike. You enter into a quarry stone floored room with a dining area to your left and the bar to the right. The servery is on the rear wall and has a dark wood counter and matching bar back which fit well with the room’s exposed timbers, giving the area a cohesive rural look and feel. A single table stands opposite the bar, next to a large log pile, a chimney with a modern fire inside and a rather incongruous antique Shell fuel pump. Drinkers congregated to the right, in an area that really might be considered a separate room thanks to the partitioning created by the aforementioned chimney. This area has been furnished with some basic seating and decorated with collections of cigarette cards and old documents. Over to the left, the dining area is split across two levels, with the lowest of these to the far left. Smart upholstered chairs serve tables in a variety of sizes across the upper space which has bare brick walls, a fireplace on the rear wall, horse bridles and other various horse themed items dotted around the walls, a partitioning screen with a metal fence-style divider, a book swap, a collection of Good Beer Guides next to the end of the bar and various random paintings on display. A nice metal screen with a lamb image on it separates the lower, bare boarded part of the room, which is essentially just a narrow strip with some tables and chairs running down the end wall. Mirrors and paintings cover the walls here, but it’s not the most interesting place to sit and was accordingly empty when I visited. Pop music was playing quietly in the background throughout my stay and I noticed a display rack near the entrance full of various bottles and cans which I meant to investigate further but forgot about when it came time to leave. There were only two ales available when I visited – Dark Star Hophead and Gales HSB – the former of which was in good shape and slipped down very easily. There was a decent crowd of locals in here on a mid-week evening, including one whose dog had a spectacular, unprovoked meltdown, barking uncontrollably for a while before settling back down as if nothing happened! I really warmed to this place and thought it was a very comfortable, homely pub which was easy to settle down in and I could easily imagine losing a good many hours in here if I lived locally. The beer, whilst limited in range, was drinking very well and I would definitely consider making a return, perhaps to give their food a try as well.