The Griffin Inn, Uckfield

Visited 16/08/26. Visited for ticking purposes previously on 24/06/18, but a regular haunt over the last 12 or so years. Cask was Youngs Original and Harvey’s Best. Keg was Estrella, Asahi, Pravha, Neck Oil, Guinness, and Aspall. Lovely village pub. Bar counter in a bare boarded area is to the right of the entrance, the space also hosting an upright piano and a fire grate operational in colder parts of the year. Other side of bar counter is the Club Room with its own bar counter serving the same keg beers, block flooring and regular tables and chairs plus a few church pews. Immediately inside entrance ahead of main bar counter is a carpeted area with the other side of the fire grate, a mix of seating arrangements, including a couple of church pews with leather pads and some regular chairs and bucket chairs. Behind this at the inside rear of the venue is a dining area with bare boards and regular tables and chairs. No screens and no music, just the chatter of locals of all ages enjoying the venue. Out the back is a paved dining area with plenty of cover, furiously busy with diners on my mid to late Sunday evening visit. The best part of the venue in long summer evenings is the rear grassy beer garden, which is on two levels. The initial part with picnic benches with parasols and the Sheffield bar serving same quaffs as in inside bar and then down a small slope is another collection of picnic benches. Both parts have fantastic views of the Sussex countryside.

Dating from the 16th century the Griffin Inn is a hotel, pub and restaurant in the well-to-do village of Fletching. The right-hand entrance opens into a rectangular wooden floored wood panelled bar with open plan seating and a counter up the left. On the other side of the counter, which can be accessed via the pub’s left-hand door, is a second bar area with a piano and a red carpeted seating area with set tables adjacent to an interesting old fireplace with burner. Panelled walls are also found in this section where old pictures and paintings can be viewed, one of which is our now king having a beer in here some years ago. An L-shaped wooden floored dining area runs up the left of this carpeted seating and across the rear to a fireplace on the right-hand side. The hotel reception is found in the right rear adjacent to the toilets. This is a Youngs pub, or it has some affiliation to Youngs, so their London Original was available alongside Harvey’s Best on the two out of four hand pumps that were in operation. A premium keg selection was also available, as was a gastro food menu. I think this pub gets it just about right between the wet and dry, but it’s not the sort of place I would stop in for long.

This turns out to be an upmarket traditional inn although it looks more like a solid village local from the street. Anyway, the bar and dining rooms have 3/4-height dark wood panelling with black-and-white photographs and coloured illustrations of various cricketers and their teams. Slightly oddly, the four handpumps are on the restaurant side of the central servery, with Youngs 'London Original' and the more local Harvey's (£5.85) available (and the presence of the former is perhaps explained but that company's name appearing on the wi-fi connection).