The Nutley Arms, Uckfield

First the good news: open again, with new owners after another worrying period of closure. However, it must be a struggle to get a country pub going again in the middle of winter, and it shows. The refurbished U-shaped interior looks better than the rather drab facade, and food is offered at certain times of the week. Unfortunately, the handpump is not currently in use, although the landlord is planning to try again when the weather improves (as there shown be plenty of walkers about then). From the limited keg selection, I went for Grand Central IPA as that was a new one on me (but it appears to be an unbranded Hydes beer). So, not a great visit, but let's hope that the new people manage to make a go of it.

Official site of The Nutley Arms - camra.org.uk

Official site of The Nutley Arms - camra.org.uk

I’ve driven past the Nutley Arms so many times over the years, but it never looked open and it certainly never looked very inviting so I always continued past. That changed on a recent Thursday afternoon when I saw some people sitting outside so I swung into the car park to take a look. Through the entrance a serving counter across the rear faces a row of seating along the front windows. The hand pump was off which left five draught options which included Carlsberg, Guinness and Appleshed Cider, which seems to be popular in these parts. To the right of the counter is a kids pool table and a dartboard as well as a television that was airing a music channel complete with adverts. In the left rear is more seating and a rear door that opens onto a large decked area with just four picnic tables. Further to the left is some children’s climbing apparatus and steps lead down to a large tree lined field at the rear that looks suited to camping. This place is pretty basic, but the yellow painted interior and breeze blowing through from the open rear door out to the front was nice on a hot day. That said, I think I’ll continue to drive past in the future.