ReviewIn the heart of the village of Wivelsfield Green (but a good three mile cross-country walk from Wivelsfield train station) this is a pleasant rural pub that appears to have undergone a fairly recent makeover. The pub has a traditional two bar layout, with the Saloon Bar to the right. This room has a short stretch of servery in the rear right corner, with a quarry stone tile floor and a long banquette running along the front wall. Some comfier seating options were arranged to the left and at the far end there was a door into another room, but I didn't venture through, so I'm not sure if this was another seating area or not. The walls, freshly painted in parts, were decorated with a few interesting local bits, including a section of Ordinance Survey map, whilst stacks of local listings magazines could be found dotted around the room. A door to the right takes you through to a fairly spartan Public Bar - a bare boarded room with the servery in the left rear corner. The room has a pool table in the centre, a bar billiards table to the rear and at least one dartboard, all of which rather limits the seating options within. Of note was the large selection of trophies in a big set of cabinets which runs above the door to the Saloon Bar. These reflect the pub's participation not only in pool, billiards and darts, but also in other activities such as football and golf. A door to the rear leads out to a newly created rear garden - a part concreted and part grass space next to the car park with limited picnic bench seating and not much of a view. Far preferable was the front seating area, which not only allows you to enjoy the pub's fine façade, but also some pleasant floral arrangements.
On entering, we found just one hand pump in use, serving Harvey's Sussex Best, but this was because a large marquee had been erected in the car park for a beer festival. There were 14 different ales available here, plus almost as many ciders and I was poured an excellent pint of Long Man American Pale Ale (£3.60) by a friendly landlord and his enthusiastic young son. Under normal circumstances, the Sussex Best would usually be accompanied by two other ales, one of which is normally another Harvey's brew. A band struck up in the marquee as we arrived, also as part of the festival, but it wasn't clear if live music was part of the pub's regular agenda.
This visit was undoubtedly enhanced by the unexpected discovery of the beer festival, but if the beer is normally kept as well as my pint of APA was, then the pub is well deserving of its listing in the Good Beer Guide. I thought the pub was a good asset to the local community and appeared to be appreciated by the regulars. It's not the easiest pub to get to without a car, but I'm glad we made the effort.
