The Hollist Arms, Petworth

Community minded village pub up the road from the home of Langham Brewery. Tile and brick building with good red and black floor tiles. A narrow bar, with two adjoining rooms for dining,a little snug with comfy sofas and dartboard to the right of the front door. An interesting looking garden to the rear, complete with outside loos. In the car park, a new build cart lodge- like building houses a village shop:I’m not sure if it is part of the pub. We visited on a dark November Saturday evening at the tail end of a wake for a popular villager: this merged into an evening of Spanish music in the dining room behind the bar. We sat at a round table in the larger dining room, a couple of other groups were dining, together with some drinkers and their dogs. We enjoyed our meals-decent sized helpings and charming service. On the bar the usual fizz founts, an interesting wine list, and three handpumps offering beer from Sussex micros:Dark Star’s Hophead,Sundowner from Langham, which unfortunately went off before I ordered it, and no 79 from Firebird. A good pub, but this stretch of the iconic A272 and its hinterland offers some strong competition. We hope to return.

Official site of The Hollist Arms, contains menus - www.thehollistarms.com

Just a flying visit, but as previously noted, the locals are friendly, the beer's good (Langham's, brewed in the village, is on the bar) and there's a restaurant room. Open all day, too, so worth checking out if you're in the area.

Official site of The Hollist Arms, contains menus - www.thehollistarms.com

Friendly pub in the sort of village you would probably like to live in. Possibly a bit given over to food at busy times, but still enough room for drinkers, and with some very good and interesting ales. One I'll probably go back to!