The Watchmakers Arms, Hove

The Watchmakers is a justifiably popular micro pub almost adjacent to Hove Station. Standard micropub features include perimeter seating options and five ales brought out from the cool room behind the bar. This is also where the half dozen ciders are stashed, while the 4 keg beers are served from taps protruding from the wall alongside. A local ethos is preferred, with one of the ales even coming from the in-house brewery, though Manchester's Marble and New Bristol from, well, Bristol, both have one on the go. The beer is excellent and there's no background music, just a quiet buzz of conversation. Absolutely worth calling in.

Opening daily at midday I had a few minute wait for the doors to open on Saturday just gone. This is a well-to-do area, and it was a the best day of the year for the weather, so I didn’t mind a bit of people watching. The Watchmakers Arms is a laminate floored single room shop converted micro with a front bay window and high benches up the side walls that face high tables and stools. Hops and a bit of ivy hang from the ceiling and there’s pub and watch ephemera on the walls, the décor has been done well. The short serving counter sits in the right rear corner in front of a glass doored temperature controlled ‘cellar’ which houses gravity fed casks. The five available local cask beers were Downlands Lost Weekend and Lucid Dream, Gun Brewery’s Chummy Bluster, Long Man’s Long Blonde and Only With Love Brewery’s Champion. I went for the Lost Weekend which was an OK stout. There were also a couple of craft keg options, but this place is really about the ale. Having just opened I was the only customer for the duration of my stay, but a couple of the tables had been reserved for early afternoon. The polite welcome and location by Hove Railway Station means that I’ll certainly be visiting again at some point.

Micropub with its own microbrewery set in a parade of shops just down from Hove railway station. The bar is set at the far end of the room, with a cool room behind it from where the ales and ciders are dispensed. A board to the left of the bar lists the real ales, ciders and craft beers. The pub was reasonably busy, but didn't quite have the friendly feel of most micropubs. In fact, a cluster of locals near the bar seemingly all had dogs which would bark and attack customers heading to the toilets. Although, I've seen bigger cats than the most agressive one! Ales on were Moor Old Freddy Walker, The Watchmakers Arms Bezel Best, Siren Liquid Mistress, Good Chemistry Sub Four & Arbor C Bomb. Ciders were SeaCider Medium & Hardcore, Ascension Unless You Think, Hallet's Heartbreaker, Gwatkin Yarlington Mill & Sandford Orchards Devon Red. Craft beers were UnBarred Stoutzilla & Pentrich Floor Pie. Probably the best pub Hove has to offer. I have many more to explore in the area. So, there's a good chance I'll return here one day.