The Berwick Inn, Polegate

Handily placed by the station, but located more than a mile away from the village itself. It's been extended at least once at some stage, but all parts of the overall L-shaped arrangement of seating and dining areas have a similar traditional look. Gun Brewery's Scaramanga extra pale (£5.50) and the mandatory Harvey's available from the two pairs of handpumps on different parts of the counter.

Across the road from Berwick Railway Station is the Berwick Inn which is a large family orientated pub. As I approached on Saturday afternoon I was preparing myself for disappointment as there didn’t seem to be much life through the windows and the first door that I tried was locked. I persevered with my attempt to get a pint and tried a second door which thankfully was open. It became apparent why the pub looked closed as the upstairs area is a pool and dart room that wasn’t being used as the handful of customers were either in the main bar downstairs or in the garden out the back. The main body of the pub consists of the bar area and a dining area to the right behind the bar and a conservatory at the rear. The lawn garden at the rear has some covered and uncovered picnic tables along with a BBQ from which burgers can be purchased for around £4 when it is fired up. At the rear of the garden there is an adventure playground for the little ones and another for older children. To the left hand side of the pub there is another lawn area separate from the rear where some more picnic tables can be found for a quieter drink away from the families. Inside the pub there are a couple of plasma screens, but I didn’t see any advertisements for Sky Sports and there was no music playing in the background. There were a few people setting up for a 40th birthday party in the dining area and bar. Standard draught products are available and the bar supports two hand pumps that were drawing Ringwood Best and Pedigree. I found the service to be friendly and although the Pedigree wasn’t up to much I did enjoy the Ringwood. I rarely eat in pubs but I had the misses and kids in tow so we decided to eat here as the food seemed reasonably priced around the £8 mark. I had chicken and chips and the wife had ‘home made’ penne pasta. To be fair the dishes were very big, but the penne wasn’t home made, unless the chef lives in a factory that supplies to Tesco, and the chicken was something one would expect for a fiver off the bar menu. The Berwick Inn hosts a quiz every Tuesday from 20:00 and Thursday is bingo night which also commences at 20:00. I thought that this place was OK for a few beers whilst the kids wore themselves out in the playground, but it is quite out of the way and probably not worth the effort just for a beer.