Harvester The Horse & Groom, Polegate

The Horse and Groom is a large Harvester that was very quiet during my visit on Thursday evening a couple of weeks ago. The entire left hand side of the pub is for dining, but there is a bar area to the right where some standard draught products can be purchased. The Guinness was perfectly acceptable, but I found the barmaid to be a little disinterested in serving as she was enjoying her chinwag with the other staff. Halfway through my pint an alarm started blaring and the staff had a discussion as they tried to guess what the alarm it was. It turned out to be the fire alarm, but fortunately there was no fire and we didn’t all burn to death. There is ample parking and some seating can be found along the side of the pub and some of these are covered by a jumbrella. Unfortunately there is a busy main road running alongside so it is not the best area for alfresco drinking. These Large dining pubs seem very popular around these parts so I was surprised to see it so empty. There was a strong smell of paint so maybe they had been closed for a while and it will take time for the local inhabitants to make their way back. I cannot see myself returning though as I’m not a fan of the Harvester chain.