The Five Ashes Inn, Mayfield

I’ve been driving past the Five Ashes Inn for over ten years, but the parking situation isn’t great and it always looked closed so I never bothered stopping. Well, last Saturday afternoon, whilst driving past at 5 mph behind a tractor, the open door caught my eye so I decided to find a spot to park and have a look. Climbing the sloped driveway and ascending the front steps I was surprised to find a tiny little bar through the right-hand doorway. A couple of small tables, a dartboard and a short bar counter across the rear. The two locals and the landlord stopped their conversation and stared at me as I walked in, the governor asking me if he could help in a “who are you” kind of way. There was no malice though, this is just a local village pub that doesn’t see a lot of outsiders. All was fine once I’d ordered half a Longman Best and asked if they accepted cash, of course they do! There were two additional hand pumps on the bar, both unused, and a limited keg selection. There is a larger room to the left of this bar with seating and an inglenook in the left wall, but one of the locals was sat on a stool in the doorway so I decided to just peer through the window from outside. The gents, accessed via a door to the left, reminded me of my grandparents outside toilet which was found in a shed full of spiders. There aren’t many pubs like this around anymore so I was glad to have a visit, but the awkward location means that I’ll probably not again.

One of the most old-school pubs left in this part of Sussex, but this is not a criticism (indeed, quite the opposite). Set back from the main road slightly in an elevated position, there are some sun-trap benches on the front terrace to add to the very limited seating available in the compact bar (although there is also another room off to one side for the less clement weather). External toilets, unusually with access from the front of the pub. Just a Long Man Best Bitter clip on one of the three handpumps, but that turned out to be poured by gravity from a cask round the back somewhere (£4.20).