The Ship Hotel, Newhaven

At some point since December 2009 The Ship Hotel has reopened which is great news as it is never good to see closed down businesses on the high street. It’s hardly a haven for ale drinkers with only two hand pumps and one of these was unused leaving Harveys Best cutting a lonely figure on the bar. There is a standard draught selection and I received a decent half of Guinness from a friendly woman behind the bar. Food is served, but I didn’t spot a menu which I’d imagine mainly consists of pub grub. The left hand side of the pub is more lounge like with seating stretching up to the rear and the ‘public bar’ right hand side has a dartboard, pool table, quiz machine and a couple of plasma screens – I’m not sure if Sky Sports is shown. There is also a jukebox which will be turned off at 20:00 every Friday evening when the karaoke machine gets rolled out. I’m not sure if there is any seating out the back, but on enquiry I was sent out the front door for a smoke. I found this place to be forgettable and would probably walk past when next in Newhaven.