The Evening Star, Brighton

The trouble with this former Courage pub is that it is just too small and busy. I had been here once before getting on for 20 years ago and it was the same then on an early Saturday Evening, completely rammed. I wish pubs like this would not provide bar stools as it just makes life difficult to get served. On the beer front there were four Dark Star beers (Hophead, American Pale, Winter Meltdown and Coconut Porter). The three guests were Brodie's London Fields Pale and Bethnal Green Bitter plus Arbor Citra. There were a few keykeg options as well. Having got rather grumpy about the boring brown beers in the previous pub, I couldn't have asked for anything more left field than a Coconut Porter (£3.60) so I tried it. Does it work? I'm not sure, I would have to try it several times before forming a conclusive opinion. As would be expected it was in superb nick.

One of the first in at lunchtime so managed to get a seat by the window, purely to sit down mind and nothing to do with monitoring the traffic into the adult shop over the road. Although I have to report footfall was a bit thin at that time of day. Back to the pub and good range of beers as usual including several interesting guests including a mild from the Brodies brewery. But didn’t look any further than the four Dark Star pumps to the fore and the couple I tried were in tip top condition.

Some of the best beer to be had in Brighton here and is always a must visit pub. Plenty of top Quality Darkstar beers plus good quality guests. A good mix of clientel but can be a bit on the studenty side of things at times.All things considerd though this is a first rate pub.

A trip to Brighton isn’t complete without a drink or two here. The original home of the Dark Star brewery, this is now just a pub and appears to be converted from two houses knocked together. The bar usually has a handful of Dark Stars plus a couple of interesting guests, as well an extensive selection of overseas bottles and quality keg products, with cider and perry also available. The beer is invariably superb and reasonably priced compared to a number of other outlets in BN1. The interior is deceptively small, bare feeling and furnished in a very basic manner. The bar is also tiny and squashed into the left hand corner of the room, which can make for an uncomfortable crush at busy times though they have a rare knack of employing barmaids that are easy on the eye, friendly and knowledgeable about the beer so the wait is worthwhile. The clientele are an eclectic mix of students, locals, bohos and die-hard ale fans which makes for a convivial atmosphere and it’s easy to strike up conversation. The comings and goings in the two porn shops over the road offer a constant source of amusement. Close to the station which is very useful as it’s easy to be tempted to stay too long here. The downside is that the pub suffers from its own popularity; the interior often gets rammed and whilst I’m not claustrophobic to any great degree I do find it rather uncomfortable and, as mentioned elsewhere, those who have blagged a seat can often find themselves accidentally knocked, jostled and dampened when other peoples pints slop over them. This combo usually means that people spill out onto the narrow street outside which then puts you directly at risk of being splattered by oncoming buses (the staff do get very agitated by this and regularly go outside to gripe at people who have inadvertently stepped into the roadway). If you like drinking, this one is unmissable but if you want more creature comforts (and a seat most days) you’ll be less inclined. I’m firmly in the former grouping.

Close to the station in a busy residential street is the well known Evening Star pub, the former home of the Dark Star Brewery. A wooden swing door tells us that we’re entering the “Evening Star Ale House”. True to form, inside we find a basic bare boarded interior which features some exposed brickwork, wooden pew style seats and heavy duty chunky bar stools. High up on shelves around the perimeter is a collection of beer bottles and there’s a few CAMRA award certificates on the walls, but the overriding impression is of a rather dull and functional place where little thought, if any, has been given to attempting to create a characterful interior and warm ambience. It is however pleasingly free of fruit machines, TV’s etc Seating outside on the pavement at the front help alleviate the inevitable crush inside, where seating is at a premium and vertical drinking a distinct probability. A small curved bar counter – made from oak vats in which the famous Merrydown Cider was once made – was dispensing 4 Dark Star beers plus 2 guests on my recent late Friday afternoon visit. The Dark Star beers included Hophead, American IPA and Original. The guests were White Horse Village Idiot and Kernel Big Brick, the latter weighing in at a chunky 8.9% ABV and being sold for £ 2.70p a half ( or £ 1.80p a third ). The pub has been a CAMRA Good Beer Guide regular for some time now. You’ll quite rightly want to include this in any Brighton crawl, but the lack of comfort will discourage all but the most dedicated real ale enthusiasts from lingering and people who think that this is one of the top pubs in the country really do need to get out more.