The Six Bells, Lewes

Splendid village pub with bold lettering on the facade and a cantilever sign where the village name is more prominent than the pictorial representation of that of the pub. Ultra-traditional, multi-room interior; all quite plainly furnished but decorated with all kinds of pictures and ephemera. Harvey's (inevitably) on one of the three handpumps and the very local Gun Brewery Scaramanga (£4.60) on another.

The Six Bells is in a small village a short drive north of the A22, but it is well worth going out of the way for as it has most things one would want from a village pub. It’s not going to win any awards for its real ale line up of Harveys Best, Old Ale and Directors and there are no premium draught products, but the usual suspects are here and the Guinness was good as was the extremely friendly service. There is a food menu chalked up on the wall and I found it to be extremely good value with a children’s portion of macaroni and cheese (which would have easily passed as an adult serving), French onion soup and two huge slices of garlic bread covered with thick cheese coming in at £9. The mains were priced around the £7 mark and I saw a couple of nice smelling curries get delivered to the table next to us. I thought that the food versus beer balance was just right as this is a proper pub that one can eat at rather than a pub restaurant that seems to be the way most pubs in this area have gone. Inside the front entrance there is a serving hatch to the bar and to the right there are a couple of steps that lead up to a small room that has direct access to the bar. There is probably one table to many in here as it is very cosy, but the pub was quiet during Monday lunchtime when I visited a couple of weeks ago. This room has a large fireplace with a wall seat either side in a recess and the landlady was using a Calor gas tank whilst trying to set light to the biggest log I think I have ever seen. Lots of memorabilia adorns the walls from local stories to war time signs, one of which was detailing punishments for shooting carrier pigeons. There is also a display case in the corner that houses a stuffed fox, Pheasant and owl, which my nipper found very interesting. To the left of the entrance is the main bar area that has a smaller fireplace and this is the only place in the pub that children are not permitted and a good job to. At the rear of the pub there are lots of different seating areas and a door that I think leads to another bar that I did not visit. There was a sign on the door warning of strobe lighting so I guess that this pub has regular discos or live music at the weekends. I do know that folk and blues nights are hosted here on Tuesdays, but I wouldn’t have though that there would be much need for strobe lighting. During my visit there was no background music and I didn’t see a TV anywhere during my little scout around the place. Outside there is a picnic table at the entrance and to the rear of the pub there are more picnic tables along with a smoking shelter. I think that there is also a car park at the rear, but not knowing we parked in the free council car park just down Church Lane which is opposite the pub. I thoroughly recommend this pub to others and to date this is my favourite pub in East Sussex.