The Parsonage, Tarring, Worthing

Located at the Southern end of Tarring’s quaint High Street, this is a large pub and restaurant converted from three Grade II listed, 15th Century cottages. A bit of pre-visit reading has suggested that this place would be overwhelmingly food-led, so I was a little apprehensive about turning up in the middle of Sunday lunch territory. However, the place was virtually empty, with half a dozen locals in the bar area and not a single diner or waitress in sight, so it had more of a pub feel than I was expecting. You enter into the small bar area in the right hand portion of the building – a carpeted room with a huge inglenook fireplace to the right with a modern burner inside. The small servery runs along the back wall and the room is furnished with low stools, chairs and pews, all upholstered in black leather and primarily arranged down the left hand wall or under the front leaded windows. Dark wood beams cross the ceiling and there are a few CAMRA certificates and an odd assortment of signs dotted around to distract the eye. There is a doorway to the front left with a huge wooden beam running across the floor for you to step over in order to move into a small front room in what must have been the middle of the three cottages. This room, also accessible from a passage next to the bar has enough room for just the one pew and a couple of comfy chairs, but also has a grand inglenook fireplace of its own filled with mirrors, plants and a collection of golf trophies. The corridor behind has a bookcase full of CAMRA magazines and old Good Beer Guides and leads to a third small room in the left hand portion of the building, similar in size and furniture options to the middle room. All three rooms have their own front doors from their days as separate cottages, but only the right hand one admits customers these days. A staircase in the middle room leads up to the restaurant with a high gabled roof and plenty of formal seating. Dismal music played throughout my stay at a tolerable level but most of the noise came from the lively landlord who seemed to have a great rapport with his locals. The pub has been listed in the 2017 Good Beer Guide and had four ales on handpull on this occasion – Harvey’s Sussex Best, Hammerpot, Bottle Wreck Porter, Downlands Dark Life and Burning Sky Plateau. The latter was £3.60 a pint and turned out to be in excellent shape, fully justifying the inclusion of a food-led venue in the Good Beer Guide. I quite enjoyed snooping around this interesting old building, which incidentally was the Museum of Sussex Folklore before its conversion to pub and restaurant use in the late 1980’s. I also very much enjoyed the good quality beer, but ultimately I found the place lacking the sort of character you would hope to find in such an historic building. I’m glad I made the walk out to Tarring as it’s a very pretty village but I’m not sure this place had enough about it to encourage me to return.

Its hard to call this a pub, its a bar within a restaurant, but don't let that put you off, real ale served by people who actually know what they're talking about. The building dates back to the 15 century and has the beams to prove it, including across the floor! A wide variety of pump beers and from the barrel along with a list of what's in the next rotation. Excellent little place that's a well kept secret. CAMRA winner 2014 & 2015

Official site of The Parsonage Bar & Restaurant - theparsonage.co.uk

Official site of The Parsonage Bar & Restaurant - theparsonage.co.uk