The Foghorn, Hove

The Foghorn was formerly a bank. So, officially it is classified as a micropub. From the outside, you probably wouldn't classify it as such, but inside there is one fairly small room with a bar and a cool room behind it. As the previous review suggests, with no tables available, our only option was to stand at the end of the bar. This is clearly a popular place and for good reason. There were 5 cask ales - Big Hand Spectre, North Garden Fields, Electric Bear Gizmo, Thornbridge Green Mountain & Three Legs NEIPA. Ciders were Ascension Pilot, South Downs Elderflower Cider, Seacider Blackberry & Apple Cider, Thistly Cross Traditional & Snail's Bank Raspberry Ripple. Meanwhile, craft beers were also represented with Hackney/Burnt Mill Mighty Mountains Vermont IPA, Bristol Beer Factory Milk Stout & Arbor Mosaic. This place is a bit off the beaten track, but worth the effort to seek out. From here, we got a cab back to the Watchmakers, Hove's other key highlight. However, if I had to chose between the two, I would chose the Foghorn.

As earlier reviews have observed, the bar in The Foghorn serves mainly as a ledge for the regulars to rest their elbows and their drinks, such that anybody wishing to order has to squeeze in at the end. Service much as before with 5 cask ales and 6 boxed ciders stashed in the cool room. 4 keg taps protrude unobtrusively from the back wall. Seating is reservable, but I found plenty of seats and tables still free midway through a recent Friday afternoon (the reservations mostly didn't kick in till 6:00 or so). There's more seats outside taking in the scenery in the busy centre of Portslade. Unfortunately given the bar blocking, the impression is of a club which they've reluctantly allowed you to enter. It's an option, but one you needn't worry so much about missing out on.

COVID precautions as stated in a previous review have now gone. 5 casks from the cool room and 4 keg taps when I visited. Prices very reasonable for Hove (Portslade actually) with cask from £4 to £4.60. A decent cider and wine selection. Next to a busy main road and so traffic noise can be intrusive, inside and out. Annoyingly (IMHO) drinking at the bar is allowed and so a certain amount of ducking and weaving is needed to fully appreciate the range on offer. N.B. contactless payments only.

This is a very nicely presented micropub of sorts on a prominent junction in the heart of Portslade. The pub has a decent sized room with modern floorboards, whitewashed walls and a feature wall to the right painted in a warmer shade. Three or four high tables positioned around the front and right-hand sides of the room are served by high stools whilst an additional table to the rear right has hard benches and a couple of low stools, with some temporary screening erected between some of the tables to maximise capacity. The mandatory collection of pump clips covers a good deal of wall space, although the right-hand wall has mainly been decorated with some quirky and retro art prints, a few photos and a board listing the beers that customers can expect to see on the bar in the near future. Perhaps the most distinctive feature is the ceiling, which has been partially covered by a number of cloud shaped cushions, which not only produce quite a striking visual effect, but also help dampen the sound in a room otherwise low on soft furnishings. The servery occupies the rear left corner of the room and has a timber counter front and large blackboard-lined bar back which has the full drinks range detailed on it and is fringed with more pump clips. To the rear, doors lead to the toilets and there is a notice board made from wine bottle corks. The absence of any music was quite apparent, inasmuch as I could hear every word of every conversation going on around me, although most customers had chosen to sit outside where canteen style tables and benches have been lined up along two sides of the building. All four handpulls were operational when I arrived, giving me a choice of Three Acres West Coast Pale, New Bristol My Mosaic Romance, Ilkley Lotus and Gun Chummy Cluster, whilst three craft kegs had brews from the likes of Good Things and Harbour. The West Coast pale was £4.00 for a pint and in very good shape, brought to my table by one of the friendly, visor-wearing bar team. Despite its compact size, this place had a bit of ‘proper-pub’ vibe to it as opposed to the usual micropub feel, perhaps helped by the screens which broke the room up a little, but also because of the buzzy atmosphere that gave it more of a ‘lived-in’ feel than most micropubs manage. Definitely worth a look if you find yourself in Portslade, this was a very enjoyable stop on my crawl.

A very nicely appointed and recently-opened micro. There was a good buzz inside on my Saturday afternoon visit with hardly a seat to be had. On the beer front, they offered a range of cask (from the cool room behind the bar) and keg from all over; the two I sampled were spot on. Judging by the crowds, a quality beer outlet was overdue in this part of the Brighton and Hove conurbation. Definitely worth a visit.