The Mermaid Inn, Rye

Very famous old inn, and usually crammed full of overseas tourists so I haven't been here for decades. However, a cold Monday with almost nobody else about (to the extent I managed to photograph a completely empty Mermaid Street) provided us with an unplanned opportunity to call in and have a proper look around. Lounges on both sides as you walk along the wood-panelled corridor (one reserved for hotel residents only) until you find the relative small bar at the back. This has a very traditional look and the huge fireplace but didn't feel empty as there were several other people in just having a drink rather than eating. Harvey's of course, plus Tribute and the 3.8% 'house' Mermaid Ale.

This isn’t really a pub in the strictest sense of the word, it’s actually a bar within a hotel, but it’s such an iconic building that it really is a must visit when in Rye, and I rather got the impression that most of the punters were just in for a drink rather than hotel residents on our recent Friday evening visit. As you enter, the hotel reception is off to the left and you proceed down a narrow corridor to the bar at the rea. The hallway itself is very attractive, with old black beams across the ceiling and further black timberwork in the walls which are inlaid with portraits of kings and queens. A carved wooden archway is at the end. The bar itself is very impressive, with plenty more black wooden beams on the ceiling and walls, leaded glass windows at the rear and an enormous fireplace that takes up one entire wall, complete with swords on the wall above, as well as a frieze of carved cherubs. Various other swords and daggers were hung on the walls, as well as an old revolver of some sort, perhaps a dualling pistol, and a few further portraits. A large quantity of hops were hung from the ceiling. Another lounge off to the left was surprisingly quiet, perhaps this is residents only, but was broadly similar in terms of décor with the seating here being large red leather Chesterfield sofa’s. Beers on tap were Tribute, Harvey’s Sussex Best and their own Mermaid Ale. The solitary cider meanwhile was Appleshed, which was a new one on me. Overall, not the most pub like experience perhaps, but a real must do nonetheless.

A cracking heritage pub located on one of Britain’s most picturesque streets. This historic coaching inn has a beautiful timbered (pre?) Tudor exterior which gives way to a multi-roomed interior with a real plush old skool feel. There’s tons of carved dark wood panelling, carpets, big hearths, old nick-nacks and a couple of lovely garden areas – lots to explore and multiple visits would reward fully. Three cask at the bar in the shape of Harveys Best, St Austell Tribute and a house beer Mermaid Ale at 3.8% - WhatPub says it’s Youngs so I guess a rebadge of Ordinary - in good nick (NBSS 3.5), served-up by be-penguined staff (it is an upmarket hotel, I suppose). A mixed crowd, with confused foreign tourists, a few locals and a few of the local upper middle class with a broomstick up their back end; indeed a couple of tea-sipping Pooteresque ladies were not enamoured by my presence in one of the rooms and even less so when some working class tourists from Essex also joined. Overall this is a lovely place with good beer and well-worth a drop in to sample. Unlike some others below, I would call in again.