The Half Moon, Haywards Heath

David Walton left this review about The Half Moon

Smart pub in the small village of Warninglid. Through entrance door is a small bar area set up for drinkers with the serving area facing as you walk in. Off a small step to the right is the main (in relative terms) serving area of the same bar with a small dining area again off to the right with windows looking out to the road outside. Beyond this bar is a long’ish main dining area with a large group of 30 or so diners enjoying a meal together on a set of joined tables along the left hand side of this area. Small tables along the right hand wall largely unoccupied save for an elderly gentlemen on his own that had just been served ahead of us with his bottle of rose for solo consumption! Let’s hope he was a local rather than the large proportion of people here that must have driven from the ratio of cars to punters inside the pub. All told the interior had a rather gloomy feel. There is a large beer garden out the back, initially paved with attractive inset trees and metal tables and chairs with the trees providing substantial shading to the patio and then a large grassy garden with traditional wooden picnic benches.

Beer wise the two hand pulls on the bar inside the entrance door offered Harvey’s Sussex Best and Long Man Rising Giant. The main bar was keg only and offered Stella and Moretti plus Guinness, Neck Oil and Inch’s cider. The Long Man beer was a decent pint.

I had hoped this would have offered a bit more but it is clearly a place where punters head to to dine on a Saturday evening. The menu, to my eye, was typical pub grub and the pub didn’t strike me as a foodie destination. The pub had a bit of an edge, in a very genteel way, where we were eyed from head to toe whilst walking the length of the pub to the rear beer garden. Felt like a local pub for local people!

On 4^th August 2024 - rating: 5
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