The Black Rabbit, Arundel

A good sized pub in a great location alongside the river, it makes the most of the setting with plenty of outside seating, some of it undercover and some in the fresh air. The downside of this of course is that it can attract large crowds, and punters were queueing out the door to be served on a recent sunny Saturday afternoon, although the friendly staff were doing their best to cope. Internally it’s divided in to a number of different rooms, all running along the front of the pub. Décor wise it’s probably fairly rustic but in a contemporary sort of way with neutral colours and wooden boards on the floor. A wood burning stove was in a free standing chimney breast and a number of black and white portrait photographs of the Woodhouse family were displayed on the wall, as well as a number of vintage cameras that had been mounted in picture frames. Just inside the door was a canoe that had apparently been used in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and this was separated from the rest of the pub by some partitioning made of wicker and oars. A snug with a number of bookshelves on the wall was at the far end. The menu looked to consist of a decent selection of “pub grub” dishes with options such as fish & chips, burger, ham egg & chips, steak & ale pie, etc., and these were mostly priced around the £9 - £12 mark. Beers on tap were all from Hall & Woodhouse and on this occasion were Bouncing Bounder, First Call and Tangle Foot. The solitary cider was Stowford Press.