John Harvey Tavern, Lewes

Surprised by the fact that this wasn't actually the best kept pint of Harveys Best in town! The pub was rammed with punters on a wet saturday afternoon and we had to stand at the bar to drink our brews. I had been looking forward to the JHT all day as Harveys is one of my favourite brown beers and I came away feeling a little short changed.

Harveys brewery tap. Converted from the old stables of the Bear Hotel overlooking (just) the River Ouse. The ground floor is set over two rooms and the interior is long and rectangular, as is the upstairs room. The lower bar has stone flagged flooring and a beamed ceiling. Olympia, Hadlow and Armada plus six(!) Sussex Best on stillage. My Hadlow was as good a drop as you’d expect given the location. Surprised to only see four of Harveys range actually available though, I was expecting more. Extremely busy on my visit, so we made use of the outside drinking space (most of it unofficial) but it worked for us on a summer’s day. Big on food and a lot of it was being served, a notch above pub grub judging by what I saw. As noted elsewhere, the brewery and shop are located at the end of the street by the bridge. A decent venue if you like Harveys beer but I felt strangely unmoved by it as I usually expect a brewery tap to be a flagship for the ale, especially so in Lewes where it isn’t exactly tough finding the beers that were served here elsewhere. Room for improvement?

Harvey's brewery tap so as you would expect a showcase for their beers and way of doing things: and like many Harvey's pubs you've got to find it first. Many would expect it to be where the shop is to go round the back but in fact it's in a lane across the road. Once inside there's a lounge to the left, they call it the 'History Room' and the traditional style bar is to your right. Best on stillage plus Hadlow, Armada and Olympia on the handle when we called. All or them of course drinking well. It's not really a locals pub, but it isn't there for that and most of its trade seems to come from visitors and shoppers. There's plenty of amusement to be had watching those asking for a "pint of Harveys". Whatever, it does what it does perfectly well and is well worth a session if you're in town

Splendid if slightly contrived pub close to brewery. Feels a little bit too designed, rather than evolved, if you know what I mean. However keeps a good selection of Harveys ales, including Best out of the barrel and pleasant enough. Certainly worth dropping to sample Harveys beers at their best.