The Green Man, Worthing

Set in a former cafe just up the road from the level crossing at West Worthing station, this is one of the town's newer micropub ventures, opening in October 2016. The pub certainly isn't much to look at from the outside - in fact, I walked straight past it, such is the nondescript nature of the facade, but inside I found a welcoming venue with the usual compact single room layout. The room has linoleum flooring and large floor to ceiling windows to the front and right, the lower halves of which are obscured whilst the upper section bears the pub's name and a green man logo. Two rows of high benches and stools were arranged in an unusual diagonal position through the middle of the room, providing the majority of seating options. Elsewhere, some rickety looking stools serve a ledge under the right hand window and there are a couple of armchairs near to the entrance. The pub has no servery, but the cheery landlord was quickly on hand to take everyone's orders and bring the beer to you from the temperature controlled taproom in the rear right corner. Walls are half panelled with plain uppers, but a formative pump clip collection has started to work its way across the lintels, adding a dash of colour to proceedings. Furniture is rounded out by a bookcase in one corner offering a book swap scheme and a dresser on the opposite wall which was being used to showcase some of the bottled beer options. Beyond the servery you pass through into a back room of sorts in order to reach the toilet facilities. Mid-way through my visit, the landlord brought around some freshly made sausage rolls for everyone to get stuck into, and very nice they were too. It was the enthusiastic landlord who really sold this place for me, as he also gave me a full run down on all the beers on offer which was very helpful in making an informed choice. The options on this visit were Downlands Rakau and Bramber, Tring Mansion Mild, Irving Frigate and Kissingate Sussex. Seven ciders and a mead were also available according to a board near the taproom but I was keen to try the Mansion Mild, which was really good and a clear indicator of high standards of cellarmanship. There was a good crowd in on a Sunday evening without it feeling too busy and having sat next to the door I enjoyed watching people walking by, many of them looking in ruefully as their kids dragged them in the vague direction of the beach. This place seems to be bedding in quite nicely but still has the underlying feel of a new pub not yet imbued with too much character. However, this really is a minor quibble when considering the friendly welcome, expert service and great beer on offer here. I have no doubt that this place will go on to become one of the area's top pubs and I eagerly anticipate the chance to come back and give it another go.