The Inglenook Hotel, Bognor Regis

My 2nd visit in less than 6 months this time for a 2 night stay with a few pals. This is review is from several visits over the weekend involving food and beer!. 4 guests ales on cask plus Fuller's London Pride and Young's Special as regulars. In addition there's 3 ales on keg one of these was an offering from BrewDog. My several pints of Downlands Brewery Hop Contract @ 4.3% were well kept as well as Vibrant Forest’s Black Oktober which is a super strong smooth stout @ 9.0% Had lunch in the non formal dining area on the Friday, the sandwich offerings all come with salad and fries and are filling, as well as good value. Food was popular with the majority of the clientele being over 60. On Saturday night it was a main meal, which again was very good and well priced. Quick attentive service from both the barmaid and the waitresses on every food order or visit to the bar. Packed on Friday night but not so busy on Saturday night. The Inglenook is very good homely hotel with a nice bar and good home cooked food.

The Inglenook is an operating hotel with an attractive seating area out the front and a massive garden at the rear. The interior has white painted ceilings with exposed beams and facing the front entrance is a split stone and cement wood topped bar. Inglenooks flank the bar that has options of premium and craft keg alongside two hand pumps on the left and five hand pumps to the right. The seven cask options during my recent Saturday afternoon visit were Young’s Special, Fuller’s London Pride, Arbor Ale’s Rocketman, Langham Brewery’s Hip Hop and Thornbridge’s Peverel alongside cider options of Orchard Pig Philosopher and Cornish Orchard’s Vintage Cider. I didn’t see food advertised, but I would be surprised if none is available. To the right of the bar area is a resident’s only lounge that looked very uninviting as the lone occupant snored away. At the rear is a function room and conservatory that leads to the aforementioned massive back garden. I found the service to be very friendly and I enjoyed my relaxing visit, although if I had stayed much longer the quiet may have seen me in the some state as the snoring resident.

The former coastal village of Pagham which has largely been swallowed by the urban growth of Bognor Regis amazingly still has five places functioning as pubs and of the three I tried, this was the pick of the bunch. The Inglenook Hotel is in essence a 16th Century Grade II-listed hotel and restaurant but also functions as a free house as the hotel bar areas and restaurant are open to non-residents The bar area, which can be entered through the hotel reception or through its own separate entrance with old Bass signs either side still very much has the feel of a village local. The bar area is divided into a couple of sections and both are very traditionally 16th Century appealing with original low beamed ceilings, large open brick fireplaces, and plenty of nooks and crannies in which to enjoy a beer. And alongside the historic décor, it was the beer why this place won over the other couple I tried in Pagham. There are five hand pumps on the bar. One side has two pumps with the usual house ales of Young's Special and London Pride. And then the other side has three pumps on which are regularly changing guests and for my visit as well as Dark Star Hop Head, Diablo IPA and Cronx IPA, both at 6%, were available. On talking to the bar man, the guest ales rotate on a weekly basis and it is policy to have a couple of stronger brews on. Fortunately this place also comes up as the current no 1 ranked hotel in Bognor Regis on Trip Advisor, so have marked it down for the next time I need an overnighter in this part of the country. However, I can imagine a night stay here could get messy if they carry on with the strong guest ale policy.

Official site of The Inglenook Hotel - www.the-inglenook.com