The Stanley Arms, Brighton

Facebook page of The Stanley Arms - www.facebook.com

Facebook page of The Stanley Arms - www.facebook.com

A basic back street local of the sort that is becoming a rarity nowadays. Lots of friendly locals enjoying their Saturday afternoon. Great selection of cask ales and reasonably priced. A short walk from Fishersgate railway station, slightly longer from Portslade (although more frequent trains). Also not far from the 700 bus route. I will certainly visit again.

Back street local doing good business early on a Friday evening. The handpumps were offering up a choice of 5 or 6 ales (sorry, wasn't counting), including Harvey's Best and a couple from Red Cat - the Pale slipped down very nicely and at a reasonable (by 2022 standards) £4. Not a pub you're likely to stumble upon, but definitely worth the effort if you're exploring.

This is a lovely old backstreet boozer with two bars and a number of interesting original features, making it worth seeking out. Entering via the corner door into the Public Bar on the right-hand side of the building, you find yourself in a bare boarded room with the servery immediately to you left. The bar has a nice dark wood counter with a traditional bar back and a very attractive multi-coloured stained-glass canopy. The room is quite narrow and I can imagine it gets easily crowded during peak times, so with this in mind, the landlord has removed all but the perimeter seating from the room, stacking all the chairs and stools that would’ve served the internal sides of each table, into a big pile in the rear right corner of the room. This leaves a series of long benches serving large, sturdy tables which ironically are ideal for large groups. The walls are half panelled with green painted uppers decorated with a mix of art prints, plain mirrors, breweriana and promotional material, some of which was advertising the screening of live sport. An upright piano stands halfway down the right-hand wall and weirdly has a Man Utd mascot perched on top, wearing a Man City coloured scarf and hat. The windows to the front and right have frosted lower panes with ‘Wines’, ‘Spirits’ and other such enticements written across them. A door to the left leads through to the Lounge Bar which has similar flooring and décor, maroon painted walls and much comfier seating. I didn’t really feel it was appropriate to go snooping around in here but could see customers were ordering from a separate bar. Old school vocal jazz tunes played quietly in the background and a trip to the toilets uncovered a patio garden which was very nicely kept and had plenty of picnic benches as well as a large mural on the rear wall depicting the eponymous Henry Morton Stanley delivering his famous perceptive greeting to Dr Livingstone. The pub has something of a reputation for serving up good quality cask ale and I was pleased to find four options available on this visit – Harveys Sussex Best, St Austell Proper Job, Gun Pale Ale and Franklins Lawless. The latter was £3.80 for a pint and seconded by the very friendly barman who said I was sure to enjoy it. He certainly wasn’t wrong, as it was a very tasty session ale in excellent condition – perhaps the best kept pint I’ve found post-lockdown. I really liked this pub and thought the traditional two bar set-up, attractive original features, friendly service and perhaps most importantly, the delicious beer, added up to a very complete picture of what a backstreet local’s pub should look like. I’d been wanting to visit this place for many years and am very pleased that I finally made it out here as it was one of the highlights of my crawl around Portslade and Hove.

Easily found by following a path from the station that cuts through the grid of streets at an oblique angle, this pub is worth the effort if you're staying in Brighton. A street corner local with a loyal following, a friendly welcome and great quality beer. There are two rooms, which seem to have been opened out a little, with traditional bench seating and a wooden floor. It's very basic and, as I wrote in my notes at the time, utterly delightful. There are four hand pumps on the bar (see photo): I went for the Downlands Wolseley Best and the Veterans Tracer; the latter was a less good beer than the former, which to be fair I was forewarned of by the landlady, but I went ahead anyway. Good customer service spoiled by my own obstinacy! Every town should have a pub like this. Date of visit: 22nd March 2018