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Beer of the Week (w/e 27th April 2025) with Thuck Phat
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Detail Pages
The Gardener's Arms, Lewes
Lewes
BN7 2AN
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 8 of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Aqualung . left this review about The Gardeners Arms
This is a former Whitbread pub that has been a free house for around 25 years now. The biggest problem with it is that it is so small. Happily it wasn't rammed on my Saturday afternoon visit but I still chose to sit on one of the seats in the alleyway outside as the carpeted area at the rear had a television on and the more basic front bar was busy. The whole building is quite long but fairly narrow.
The bar has six hand pumps which had one unused, Cottage Dogfight, Harvey's Best, Bath Special Pale, Dark Star Carafa Jade and Brass Castle Black Forest Stout. I went for the Carafa Jade (£3.60) which was in excellent nick. Overall this is a good pub but due to the small size of it can be uncomfortable.
On 1st October 2015
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2143 recommendations about 2143 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Mark Davey left this review about The Gardeners Arms
Second visit to the Gardeners and quite dissappointing. Of the 5 brews served up to our party, 3 were cloudy, one of which had to go back and the guvnor was less than impressed, trying to convince us that it was "how it should be" Sorry, no british Ale should be intentionally cloudy, unless it specifically says so on the clip. Original score 8, now a 6
Original review 04/09/12
Excellent beer pub, not much else going for it, but if beer is your thing, a must do in Lewes. Nice staff, good cold pies and pasties, friendly locals. Actually a much better choice than the Harveys Tap round the corner that was full of tourists when we visited.
On 27th May 2014
- rating: 6
[User has posted 292 recommendations about 276 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Gardeners Arms
This is a small, compact two room pub at the eastern end of the High Street. You enter into a small front bar with bare floorboards and textured wallpaper walls. There is enough room for just the one table under the front window with bench and low stool seating and on the left hand wall there is a nice tiled fireplace. The servery has been decorated with an incredible number of pump clips from the Archer’s Brewery and there are a number of CAMRA certificates on display as well. A doorway leads through to a lower second room which is a slightly larger space and accordingly has a few more seating options, mainly in the form of broad benches, all of which were taken up on my visit as the pub was packed out, partly due to a large group of morris dancers who were enjoying a few pints before heading off to perform somewhere. Music was playing fairly quietly in the background and the overall ambiance was warm and welcoming.
The ale line-up is detailed on some large blackboards above the servery. The options on my visit were Harvey’s Best and Old Ale, Titanic Engine Room, Rother Valley NIPA and Arkwright’s Local Hero, plus Crazy Goat cider. The boards also detailed four bottled ciders, a decent wine list and the ales that were waiting to come on next. My pint of the Titanic poured quite cloudy, but it tasted very good so I didn’t complain.
This is a nice, cosy drinker’s pub with a good range of ale which lends itself to repeat visits. The compact layout and lively atmosphere put me in mind of the Harp in Covent Garden, which is certainly no bad thing. An enjoyable visit and another pub I would say is an essential port of call when visiting Lewes.
On 1st December 2012
- rating: 8
[User has posted 3350 recommendations about 3350 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Graham Coombs left this review about The Gardeners Arms
Very small beerhouse in the conservation area of Cliffe High Street with an excellent and changing range of ales. Recommended for serious drinking - actually not much choice as food is restricted to the occasional pie.
On 14th July 2011
- rating: 9
[User has posted 3641 recommendations about 3576 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Ron Neesam left this review about The Gardeners Arms
Visited July 2010. Situated on a picturesque thoroughfare near the river, this fine pub is a must. Several guest beers, Dark Star Festival was excellent. Ample seating outside to front and side.
On 11th March 2011
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 5 recommendations about 5 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about The Gardeners Arms
A compact two-bar corner freehouse on the old High Street. Eight handpumps offer Harveys plus guest ales from various micros (Hammerpot, Windsor&Eton, Beachy Head, Weltons and Ennerdale on my visit). Black Rat cider is also available as well as a good wine list. I sampled two of the ales and they were both in good nick even if the Beachy Head was, to put it politely, ‘not to my taste’. Friendly, attentive staff in attendance who were happy to engage in chat with us beer tourists. That extended to the welcoming punters who were clearly proud of their pub. Eggs, pickled onions and olives available as bar snacks, with sausages, pork pies and pasties (which come from ‘Bens’ a local organic butcher, fresh in each day) for the more hungry. An eclectic mix of background music too. Severely affected by the Lewes floods and some pictures on the walls commemorate the event. Berwick Rangers and Swindon Town memorabilia stems from the (former, I believe) landlord. Due its compactness, there’s not a huge amount of space or seats so you may end up out in the street. Local game Toad in the Hole available if there’s space.
This is a cracking little beer house which is top of my list next time I visit Lewes.
On 4th September 2010
- rating: 9
[User has posted 5552 recommendations about 5533 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Strongers . left this review about The Gardeners Arms
This is a very small and basic pub in which I spotted seven hand pumps and apart from the Harveys Best the rest were all unseen by me before. I'm into my Guinness at the moment and I have to report that I was glad to see it in the very limited selection of draught products and it was spot on.
The music was a bit random, but it fitted the pub well and was played at a decent volume. The barmaid was a little off at the beginning of my visit, but she seemed to cheer up the longer I stayed. There were plenty of locals in that had managed to conjure up a bit of a whiff which I put down to the beer and meat pies.
I was wondering if this was the unluckiest pub in the south of England due to the pictures on the wall of a flood and a fire. There were no hints as to the origins of the photos so maybe it would be nice to put a little note on them so that non locals could be informed of the history.
I liked it in here as it is all about having a beer and a chat, but it's not the sort of place I'd go for a lad's night out – which I think is the whole point of the place.
On 4th November 2009
- rating: 7
[User has posted 5965 recommendations about 5931 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
paulof horsham left this review about The Gardeners Arms
Aah! Now this is a good pub. Small Free House: a central bar with drinking areas in front and behind.
Offers a good choice of ales (I counted 6 of them) and a pile of CAMRA mags from around the country to read while you drink.
Definitely the place I'd recommend in Lewes.
On 8th July 2009
- rating: 8
[User has posted 554 recommendations about 516 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Clive Thompson left this review about The Gardeners Arms
Imagine you could realise that dream and own your own ‘lifestyle' pub that you could do whatever you wanted with. Well you'd probably come up with something like the Gardeners Arms. Small, intimate and friendly with character and characters built up over the years. There's not much I'd change about it. The beer is the star of course, a free house with a diverse range of beers and cider, mainly from the South. I had the White's Dark Mild and then an excellent Iceni Men of Norfolk, supplemented by the, often difficult to find these days, perfect gastronomic accompaniment, a pork pie. This was the seventh pub on a solo Lewes crawl, next time I'll make it earlier and be a bit more selective.
On 14th June 2009
- rating: 10
[User has posted 780 recommendations about 697 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Gardeners Arms
A cracking pub, full of well-mannered beer lovers having a good time. They had an extensive range of real ales, including several from the Harveys brewery just across Cliffe High Street and other, also mostly local, smaller brewers and draught Black Rat cider from further afield. Top of the range.
On 19th April 2009
- rating: 9
[User has posted 8679 recommendations about 8678 pubs]