The Brewers Arms, Heathfield

The Brewers Arms has a car park to the left next to a field with a couple of inquisitive donkeys and has some picnic tables outside behind a waist high white picket fence. The entrance opens into a small bare board bar area with red painted walls and an orange hue from the lights and candles. Open plan seating is found to the left and a serving counter to the right supports Standard keg and Amstel alongside three hand pumps. One was unused and the Hobgoblin was off which left the unsurprising option of Harvey’s Best. There’s a food menu on a large chalkboard up on the rear wall under a big round Charrington’s light, but none of the locals were eating during a recent Friday afterwork visit. During our visit there was a team effort from the barmaid and the locals in putting up a television on the left-hand wall. Thankfully it was only switched on for a minute or two to make sure it worked before falling silent again. To the right of the entrance is a bit more seating with another counter with three more hand pumps, but all were unused. It looked as though the seating wrapped around to rear, but I didn’t venture into this area. On the face of it this place is nothing special, but I really liked the atmosphere and will return next time I can talk the misses into driving me up from Horsebridge.

Traditional village pub, with a small patio beer garden at the front. The arcaded entrance leads into the rather cramped bar / dining area with a pair of long tables taking up most of the space. Another, smaller room (with its own counter) can be found off to the right. The inescapable Harvey's and Lakedown's Sussex Pale (£4.60) are available from the various handpumps on the two counters.

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

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

Tried this place after a shining review in the guest book of a cottage we rented nearby. Unfortunately, the management has recently changed and our experience was atrocious. The welcome we received was from a group of grumpy, dour faced local men with unruly dogs, all without leads blocking the entrance which doubles as a smoking area. We had children with us and to be honest felt intimidated and surprised considering the aforementioned shining review. The landlord 'Gary' was about as friendly as the slack jaws outside, the food over priced (£12 Sunday roast!), poor quality& very slow to the table& accompanied by one of the dogs which begged unabated throughout the meal. This was a true return to the bad old days and reminded me that not all country pubs have made the successful transition to gastro pub. Avoid like the plague.