The Parkfield, Hampden Park, Eastbourne

converted in to a Co-op store

I passed a Hampden Park pub in a car yesterday and I'm sure it was this one, it certainly wasn't the Toby Carvery. It was closed and boarded up. According to the local paper Punch Taverns want to convert it into a shop and the local council won't let them. If like me you don't count a Toby Carvery as a pub it is the ONLY pub in Hampden Park, albeit a fairly ghastly looking one.

I had a fairly eventful couple of pints in here last night (Wednesday) as the barman was having a few arguments with the locals and I think that beer drinking had its part to play. Through the conversations I gleaned that he was the holding manager and the pub is either for sale or awaiting new tenants to take over the reins. The main bar area was closed leaving the public bar as the only drinking area and when I asked one of the locals at the bar whether the other bar is ever open he laughed and said the pub was being rundown. The solitary hand pump was unused leaving a limited draught selection, but to be fair the Guinness was very good and the service I received was very friendly. One of the five other customers had a penchant for rock music as it was being blasted out from the jukebox, but when the money ran out gunfire could be heard from the TV set up in the corner that was showing a Rambo type war film. There is a large car park and some picnic tables can be found outside the front of the pub under some overhanging concrete that covers the seating. There are also some picnic tables out the back on a rundown lawn area and also a covered smoking area by the rear entrance. This is a poor excuse for a pub and I’m not a fan of being told that the bar is closing 15 minutes early because the manager has got the hump so I shall not be returning for a long time, if ever.