Bath Arms, Brighton

This pub was good but any pub selling Sheps beers is not going to impress me too much.I went for the Yardman -stout but it was a bit too thin for a stout.

Another of the many pubs hidden in the lanes, this one certainly had a bit of character about it and purports to be the oldest licenced premises in the original lanes dating from about 1864 when it opened as the True Briton as mentioned below. It seemed a pub of two halves with the right hand side for drinking and the flock wallpaper room space on the left much more focussed on food. The Shep Neame beers available were Bishops Finger, Early Bird, Master Brew and Spitfire and were complemented by the Laine’s Doubloon and Yardsman Chocolate Mocha Stout. The Stout was very good but will agree it did qualify as one of the more expensive beers of the day. Well I suppose that’s the Lanes District tax for you, but I did feel comfortable in this pub and would return.

Established as the True Briton in 1864, this pub was renamed the Bath Arms in 1868. Tucked away in The Lanes district, an area which reminds me a little of London’s Covent Garden combined with Hatton Garden; an upmarket chocolate shop next door sports the countenance of Carmen Miranda. Internally this pub is quite commanding with something of a clubroom feel, and with all the flock wallpaper, some panelling and wall prints of former British sovereigns, looks like a British colonial-themed pub; the areas of bare brick look out of place; the floor is boarded and furniture is conventional. To the rear appears to be a dining room; the pub seems to be quite food led. Ales: I went for the Laine’s Doubloon at an extremely pricey £2.35 a half which was ok, nothing more and the second priciest ale of the day. There’s a five-day midnight licence, extending to 1.00 am, Friday and Saturday which is a bonus, but this pub’s expensive.