The Gardener's Arms, Lewes

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.

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.

Very nice , friendly , small-ish bar . Beer - John Smith's Smooth . Service polite and friendly . Food served .

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.

Small cosy street corner pub selling up to 6 real ales and "Black Rat" cider.Friendly locals and staff.