Red Lion, Crawley

Official site of Red Lion - www.redlionturnershill.com

Official site of Red Lion - www.redlionturnershill.com

This is a characterful Harvery's pub tucked away down a side street in this village that is well positioned for visitors to Wakehurst botanic gardens or the Standen estate. The pub has an L-shaped layout which seems to have been opened out from a former two bar set-up, judging by the presence of two front doors that lead into either end of what is now the same front bar area. This front space is rather narrow, with bare floorboards and some very limited seating along the front wall. A nice dark wood bar counter runs down the rear of the room, following an angular line and supported by a traditional bar back. There's a pleasant fireplace down on the far end wall and the decor is typical of this sort of village pub, with a few bits of breweriana and some old pictures vying for the wall space. A couple of steps to the left lead you up to a bare boarded area which was being put to use by diners on our lunchtime visit. Bench and chair seating runs from the nice front bay window, all the way down the left side of the pub to the very rear of the building. The highlight here is the large inglenook fireplace in the front left corner of the room, which has been decorated with horse brasses and other traditional items, whilst to one side there are some large display cabinets full of all sorts of seemingly unrelated bits and bobs, including several commemorative trinkets celebrating the pub's role as the base for the local CAMRA branch's first meetings. A door to the rear leads out to a rear garden with a decent amount of seating and there is also a smart front garden with a few picnic benches, which looked like it could be a nice place to relax in warmer weather. The pub stocks a good selection of Harvey's beers, including much of their range in bottled form, with cask options on this occasion being Harvey's Sussex Best, Old, Armada and Wharf IPA. I had the latter, which was in great shape but not my favourite from this brewery. We stopped off here for a spot of lunch and the food was excellent, with good, tasty home cooked portions of various pub classics. The staff wee also especially friendly and made us feel very welcome, despite the fact that we turned up minutes prior to the kitchen closing. This is an excellent pub with nice areas for both drinkers and diners alike, which has a good traditional rural feel and doesn't seem to have lost too much character from being opened out slightly. I'm not overly familiar with the Harvey's estate outside Lewes, but the good beer, food and service here would definitely tempt me to investigate more of their pubs.

One of Harvey's classics. Worth a major expedition, let alone a run out. Just pray that the beancounters and rationalisers and refurbishers don't take control and it goes the same way as so many of the other family breweries. Use it or lose it.