The Crown Inn, Haywards Heath

Good-looking old pub at the eastern end of the village green. Opened out a bit inside, but there are still various distinct spaces around the central bar area. Two smaller and plainer rooms can be found to the left as you enter, The Gun Room (for 'private dining') on the right-hand side and a large, three-part dining area at the back. Also has a rear patio terrace. With three of the four handpumps in use, I found a pair of Harvey's beers - Sussex and Old (£6.40 with a packet of Nobby's Nuts, which was actually a bit less than I was expecting) along with the Dodger Cali IPA from Only With Love.

Visited 13/08/24 The classier, in my opinion, of the two pubs on the opposite sides of the village green in Horsted Keynes. This one also had a tarmacked seating area out the front on a quiet road passing through the village. Plenty of picnic benches to sit at but inside appealed more on a cool evening. It also has a beer garden out the back, but this one had a well-kept paved area with some picnic benches and then a few of the same the other side of a Sussex fence on the green field beyond. Inside, the bar is on the right-hand side just inside the front door with a serving area facing the door and running along the wall into the dining area in the back half of the pub. There is a small room on the left-hand side and a private dining area off the right-hand side called the Gun Room. Seating is a mixture of regular tables and chairs and some high tables with high stools with backs. It is boarded throughout and has the country pub feel of beamed ceiling and bare brick walls. A log burner sits between the bar and the Gun Room obviously not lit on a late summers evening although it was verging on being needed. The pub was much less busy than the GK venue the other side of the green during my visit here. A bank of four hand pumps provided access to only Harvey's Sussex Best (more enjoyable than the one opposite) and Chipper, a summer ale from Only With Love. Keg beers were 360 Brewing Brighton Session, Moretti, Neck Oil, Guinness and a rarely seen (in my view) draught Beck's. This was a nice pub that I have dined in a few times over the years. It has a very chilled atmosphere and a lovely place to sit especially in the summer out the back as noted above.