The Hanover, Brighton

At the top of a never-ending hill in the eponymous Hanover neighbourhood, this is a good-sized pub with an open plan interior across two or three notionally different spaces. The pub has exposed floorboards throughout and a mix of bare brick and plain painted walls, which all combines to make it feel a little plain and indistinctive. The bar is on the back wall, directly opposite the entrance, and has a long tongue and groove panelled counter and matching bar back with a small pump clip collection across the top. To one side, there’s a disused open kitchen counter with a tiled back, but it didn’t look like it got a great deal of action. Seating comes in the form of chairs and high stools in the open area to the right, and comfier options in the smaller space to the left of the bar, which appeared to have been given over to a children’s party on my visit. More pump clips are on display around the room alongside local photos and a few random paintings, and there was also a TV screen or two showing live football, possibly with the commentary on, but the screaming kids made it hard to tell from where I was sat. A nice bookcase in the right rear corner, flanked by old maps and a nice clock, rounded out the décor and would’ve been the most memorable thing about this visit, had someone not parked a van too close to a traffic island opposite the pub, resulting in a massive traffic jam as the local buses couldn’t get through the resultant gap. On the bar, four handpulls were dispensing Sharps Doom Bar, Firebird Two Horses and Bedlam Benchmark, with a clip for a real cider reversed. I took a pint of the Two Horses from the friendly barmaid and enjoyed watching the drama unfolding outside with some of the amiable locals. This is a decent enough community boozer serving young families to one side, and an earthier, older clientele on the other, with no obvious friction between the two. A choice of a couple of interesting ales was a bonus and whilst Hanover has better pubs, this was still a decent enough visit.

Facebook page of The Hanover - www.facebook.com

Facebook page of The Hanover - www.facebook.com

The first thing that struck me on entering was the aroma of pizza. But that's not so bad - the Hanover's food offer centres on stone-baked pizza. I didn't try one, but it seemed to be popular in this family-friendly pub. I was here for the beer and, as part of the local Indigo Pub Company chain, I was assured of local ale - the 6 pumps are dedicated to Sussex (and a bit of Surrey), some of them at a very reasonable £2.79. As is the way with many of the Indigo outlets, hand-written notes adorn the clips. The beer may have been served in a mug, but The Hanover managed to serve it without the retro irony that afflicts too many London pubs. Background music was playing here: all I can say is that the style was 'funky', and at just the right volume. All in all, a decent pub in a part of the city with many great options. Well worth a visit if you're pub-crawling the Hanover / Queen's Park neighbourhoods (or you just fancy a pizza and some quality ale).