Old Polegate Station, Polegate

The Old Polegate Station is located about four hundred yards down the track from Polegate railway station. As the name would suggest it is the actual site of the old station when it was moved from its current location in 1881. Bizarrely the station was then put back in its original location and reopened in 1987 which left a building that was turned into the pub it is now. I say pub, but it is more of a restaurant with table service and the main meals are priced around the £10 mark. The downstairs bar was closed when I visited on Thursday evening a couple of weeks ago and the sign in the door directing people to the rear entrance looked as though it had been in the window for quite some time so I’m not sure if it is permanently shut. The rear entrance is up a steep slope at the side of the pub and I found the bar area to be more like a function room which I imagine it probably was at some point. Opening times from the dark ages are in force here as the pub is closed on Mondays, Tuesdays to Saturdays the pub is open from 12:00 until 15:00 and 18:00 until 23:00 and then on Sundays the pub opens at midday and closes at 22:30. I think that these times reinforce the fact that this is more of a restaurant than pub, but I didn’t feel out of place as I enjoyed my short measured pint of Guinness on one of the two tables that wasn’t set for dining or reserved. There is no real ale here and the bar is stocked with standard draught products along with Courage Best Smooth and Bass Extra Smooth. There is a large car park at the front of the pub and some more parking can be found at the rear where there are a couple of picnic tables. The barman was very polite and the older generations enjoying there dinner were interspersed by the odd Christmas office party so there was a reasonable atmosphere, but I’d imagine this would be lacking at any other time of year. I cannot see myself returning here.