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The Jenny Lind, Hastings
Hastings
TN34 3EW
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7½ of 10) see review guidelines
BRUMMIE STEVE left this review about The Jenny Lind
Not the most attractive pub from the outside but inside it as a long bar complete with a stage as it is very much a live music pub. They have a really good choice of ales and it's always busy, even though the crowd can be a little odd, as for the music I've seen some good bands here and some awful ones like on my last visit for the Hastings pirate weekend, but overall I will always check this place out when in Hastings.
On 10th September 2025
- rating: 8
[User has posted 21 recommendations about 21 pubs]
Blue Scrumpy left this review about The Jenny Lind
We'd been told that the Jenny Lind was the best pub in Hastings and of the pubs open on a Monday, it was indeed the best we found. The pub looks bigger than it actually is from the outside. It has quite a large exterior but there is only a long, narrow bar to the front and a smaller room complete with a bar billiards table to the rear. Space to the right of the front door is limited by a stage area for the regular live music. The far left-hand end is taken up by the toilets. Walls in the front room are painted orange and feature lost of music posters. Background music was also playing during our visit.
The pub also has just about the most varied beer selection in the town. Regular cask ales are Greene King Abbot & Long Man Best Bitter. Guests were Downlands Some Little Thing, Golden Triangle Shenanigans, Three Blind Mice Sauvignon Pale & Three Acres Summer Stroll. That still left one spare handpull. Ciders were Biddenden's Dry, Ascension Purple Haze & Bristol Sixer. Craft beers were Greene King Ice Breaker, Only With Love Trip Switch & Pig and Porter High As An Elephant's Eye.
Bar staff were also friendly and knowledgeable, always the sign of a good ale pub. A CAMRA discount is offered.
On 3rd September 2025
- rating: 8
[User has posted 3245 recommendations about 3243 pubs]
Ian Mapp left this review about The Jenny Lind
My pub of the night. In the old town/high street and away from the crowds. A lovely street of mixed architectural styles.
The pub is a large front room, with another room tucked behind a central bar. That seemed to be the place where most of the locals were.
Lots of handpulls but I went for a Cider on handpull - a much enjoyed (and probably lethal for a session) Biddenden Kentish Cider. Found the night before in Rye.
On 23rd June 2025
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1695 recommendations about 1669 pubs]
Pub SignMan left this review about The Jenny Lind
Tucked away in the old part of Hastings, the Jenny Lind is a pleasant two-bar backstreet pub offering a warm and characterful setting. You enter into a wide but shallow main bar area, where limited high stool seating is available along a ledge beneath the front windows, while the servery runs along the back wall. The bar itself features a smart wood-panelled counter with a curved end, a simple canopy, and a cut-out bar back that offers a view through to the rear room. A little extra seating can be found to the far left, but the right-hand side of the room has been largely given over to a high stage, partly obscuring an attractive brick fireplace — although the fine decorative surround and pub mirror topper above it remain in clear view. A band was setting up during my Saturday evening visit, adding to the sense of a lively night ahead. A connecting lobby to the right of the bar leads through to the rear room, a smaller space with tables and chairs, a covered bar billiards table, another fireplace, and further access to the bar. From here, a side beer garden can also be reached, though I didn’t explore it, and there is a roof garden which was closed on this visit due to high winds.
An impressive selection of Only With Love beers were available across the pumps, including Yacht Rock, Umbra, Firecracker, Hygge, Dodger, Koha (£4.70 a pint and in great nick) and The O.G. Best, alongside one real cider and a second boxed option positioned at the end of the bar. At least three more Only With Love beers could be found on keg as well. The bar staff were very friendly and welcoming, and the atmosphere was enhanced by a background soundtrack of old jazz tunes playing quietly around the pub.
I really enjoyed my time here and thought it was the sort of pub that would appeal to a wide range of customers. The Only With Love ale range is a good draw and I think I would've enjoyed staying here to sample more of their beer if it was all in as good condition as the one I sampled. Definitely one of the highlights of my time in Hastings, so be sure to make time to check the place out if you're crawling around the town.
Date of visit – 21st December 2024
On 28th April 2025
- rating: 8
[User has posted 3387 recommendations about 3387 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve of N21 left this review about The Jenny Lind
This is another decent ale house on the Hastings Old town High Street. Dating from 1851 when it opened on the site of the Bell, an old Hastings Inn dating back to the Reformation of 1600, this two-room pub is named after a famous mid-19th-century Swedish opera singer for reasons I couldn’t ascertain. The long and roomy front bar has a bit of an ale house vibe about it, with limited seating and plenty of space for vertical drinking and then the back bar is warmer and cosier with a real fire and a bar billiards table tucked into one section. Beyond this is a terraced garden behind the pub which would be a pleasant spot on better days than the one we experienced.
The front bar supports an impressive row of 10 ale pumps, but closer inspection reveals that the house ales of Longman Best Bitter and GK Abbott were doubled up with one on and one with a coming soon tag, then an additional coming soon label and one reverse clipped meant there was actually six ales available. These included Longman Session Pale Ale and Wantsum Brewery Black Pig alongside the house ales.
On 1st September 2023
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2287 recommendations about 2139 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Moby Duck left this review about The Jenny Lind
Not a particularly attractive pub externally but more interesting inside, a long front bar with servery to match and a smaller more intimate room to the rear. I didn't note all the beers whilst there but there was plenty of choice, my choice was a very acceptable Pig & Porter Jumping Frog. The pub experience was a little dulled by the Covid rules but obviously a very good pub.
On 13th October 2020
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2232 recommendations about 2198 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Real Ale Ray left this review about The Jenny Lind
A decent sized pub this one comprising of a long front bar, with a raised area at the far end along with a fireplace, this section also had an old petrol pump displayed in the right hand corner. The back lounge also had another fireplace and a bar billiards table. Eight ales and two ciders to choose from on our visit. The only slight problem was waiting to get served on our Friday lunchtime visit. There were two barmaids on duty and both of them were trying to light the fires, one girl in the back lounge and the other digging out the ashes from the fireplace in the front bar. Both of them seemed oblivious to customers waiting at the bar. When we eventually got served we went for the Franklin's Lawless and a Black Cherry Mild, I have to say the beers were worth waiting for.
On 5th November 2019
- rating: 8
[User has posted 3716 recommendations about 3716 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Jenny Lind
Picked the wrong time for my first visit to this place, which was absolutely rammed due to the Jack in the Green parade temporarily stopped nearby and although there were plenty of staff they were struggling to cope. However, I did eventually get a pint of Franklins Thr33 Pint Five, one of a very good selection of eight real ales available from the ten handpumps. I also noted that the main front bar was decorated and furnished in an alehouse style, with the smaller rear bar being more traditional in appearance.
On 19th May 2019
- rating: 7
[User has posted 8918 recommendations about 8918 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Graham Coombs left this review about The Jenny Lind
A good beer pub down in the Old Town. Two rooms, either side of the central bar, with a fair amount of old woodwork and a couple of real fires. The cosier room behind houses a bar billiards table. A splendid range of 10 mainly-local beers on handpump, plus four boxed ciders. The beer seemed to be in excellent condition, noting Cask Marque accreditation and regular GBG entries. There are signs to a garden upstairs, but not visited.
On 21st January 2019
- rating: 8
[User has posted 3817 recommendations about 3750 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Strongers . left this review about The Jenny Lind
I had a few beers in the Jenny Lind last night, which was my first visit in four and a half years. The interior is much as I described in 2011 (below) with a long thin front bar to the left of the entrance and on this visit I noticed that the area to the right of the entrance is in fact a stage area. A band was setting up for a set which started at around 21:00. The hand pump count at the bar has been increased to ten which were all drawing different cask ales. There are also two Westons cask ciders available. Hot food is not available due to “many superb restaurants in the Old Town area”, but there is an extensive bar snacks menu. At the rear of the pub is the Old Peculiar Lounge, which is in fact a back bar with additional seating and a bar billiards table.
On this visit I did visit the beer garden which is reached via a staircase that leads to six hotel rooms above. This area consists of a split level patio garden with seating and some covered tables. The group I was with were very comfortable up here until we had to move due to a smell of gas from a neighbouring property!
Various events are held here every week with a leaning towards live music. On Tuesday nights there is a quiz and the pub billiards team plays on Wednesday evenings. There is an upstairs dining room that I imagine is available for hire. Not on a Monday or Tuesday evening though when this area hosts belly dancing and Qijong Meditation classes, obviously on the separate evenings. The Jenny Lind does not open until midday and has an hour extension until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.
A loyalty card scheme operates where Doubloons can be earned for money off beer and the bar billiard table. When using the loyalty card for a discount on beer I think that it is 10%, i.e. buy nine pints and get the tenth free.
I found the governor to be extremely friendly and professional, as were his employees. I would have no hesitation in returning here for a few more beers and if I was a local resident there is no doubt that this would be my local pub. Rating upped from 7 to 9.
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On 23rd February 2011
The front bar in the Jenny Lind is quite long and narrow with high tables and banquette seating to the left of the entrance and a fireplace and piano to the right. The bar at the rear is made up of conventional seating and there was some very low background music playing. To the side of the pub is a smoking area that has railings up to separate it from the street outside and there is an advertised beer garden that I did not visit. I found the service to be friendly and the Guinness was well served. There are more standard draught products alongside Amstel and five real ales from differing breweries were available.
This is certainly one of the better pubs I have visited in Hastings and I would have no problem returning.
On 10th October 2015
- rating: 9
[User has posted 6274 recommendations about 6237 pubs]