The Arun View, Littlehampton

We popped in here for a quick pint prior to getting our train home, as the pub is a short walk from the station and seemed like a better bet than some of the rough looking town centre boozers we’d passed. Upon arrival, the pub was pretty packed, with nowhere to sit, so we ended up sitting on one of the benches in the patio area out front, where you have a reasonable view of the adjacent River Arun (as the pub’s name suggests), and the Harbour Bridge. Inside, the pub appears to have a two or three room layout, with entrance into the main public bar and access from here to rear dining spaces. The public bar has bare floorboards with bench and chair seating around the perimeter and the bar along the left-hand wall. The servery has a decent wood panelled counter and traditional bar back, whilst the canopy matches the counter and has been lined with various crests (possibly naval?) and a collection of plates. We didn’t venture through to the dining spaces, but they seemed to be decorated in neutral shades, with basic carpeting and simple table and chair seating. There’s also a decked riverside seating area which can presumably be accessed from the dining room. On the bar, there were three ales to choose from - Fullers London pride, Harvey’s Sussex Best and Arundel IPA. I took a pint of the latter, which was in passable condition, with most of the locals seemingly favouring mainstream lager brands. I was hoping for good things from this place, but found it a little unwelcoming and slightly chaotic, in keeping with the vibe we got from other pubs in town. It certainly has more of a food-led approach than wet-led, but the front bar offers a small space for drinkers to congregate, if you can find the space. Not a total disaster, but not somewhere I’d hurry back to either.

This pub is well named, sitting as it does right by the River Arun. There's now a fairly narrow terrace at the back running alongside the river, containing a good number of picnic benches. Food now seems to be the mainstay of this place, with the majority of tables inside (many also looking out at the river) now being for diners. Food commences at 6.00 PM during the week, and when I visited on a Thursday evening recently many of the tables were reserved, and all seemed to be occupied by the time we left. I didn't make a note of menu items, but as I recall there was a decent amount of pub favourites on offer at fairly reasonable prices, but the fresh fish specials were a bit more expensive - £12 - £13 upwards. There were two ales on - Ringwood Razorback, and Arundel Sussex IPA (£3.60 a pint), with a third pump having a London Pride clip reversed. The Sussex IPA was in good nick. Although we were eating, and thus sat in the dining area, there were a few seats near the bar counter for drinkers, as well as on the outside terrace (which of course were well patronised an a warm summer evening). This pub is just a little way from the center "seaside" area of Littlehampton, and I guess benefits from that (from a punter's point of view). But judging by the number of diners here on a Thursday evening it's not exactly a best kept secret location. Worth a visit if you can bear to be dragged away from the bright lights of Littlehampton.