Maxims, Eastbourne

I’ve walked up and down South Street a few times and have visited the other four drinking establishments on this fairly short road, but I hadn’t given Maxims a second glance as I thought it was a café before seeing it on PubsGalore. Well I visited yesterday afternoon when it was very quiet with just two other people sitting at the bar so it was hard to judge the place on atmosphere, but I liked what I saw as it is comfortable and a lot larger than the unimposing frontage would suggest. The barmaid was very friendly and there are a few standard and premium draught products alongside the three hand pumps that were drawing Harveys Best and a couple of Beachy Head Brewery ales which were Original Ale and Legless Rambler. There is a big leaning towards food as this is a café bar and a large staircase at the rear leads up to a totally separate restaurant and the toilets are also located at the top of these stairs. There is a projector screen and a couple of plasma screens for showing Sky Sports when a match is on and during the day rolling news is aired. At the weekends this place turns into a bit of a nightclub with music and a 2am license, but I have not visited at this time so cannot comment on the ambience. This is by no means a traditional boozer, but as bars go I thought it was pretty good and I would have no problem returning.