The Earth & Stars, Brighton

Well described below it was a bit quieter when I called in but still seemed geared more towards food. Had a quick drink of Ambler Gambler (not sure of the brewery) before moving on.

This is a very simple U-shaped single room pub located on the fringes of the Laines area of Brighton. The pub’s layout sees the centrally positioned servery dominate the room, leaving just a thin, bare boarded strip around three sides, most of which has been filled with a mix of padded and hard bench seating, supplemented by lots of chairs and low stools. The bar has a dark wood counter front and quite an attractive and deep, stone counter top, but the opening out of what was seemingly once a two-room pub has robbed the servery of its bar back, leaving a fudged section with green tiles and plain uppers in its wake. There’s surprisingly little in the way of décor around the room, despite the ample wall space, with chalk boards, some generic floral prints and naff atlas themed wallpaper providing the majority of the visual distraction. The pub was doing a pretty good Saturday evening trade, mainly from those visiting for a bite to eat, so much so in fact that the staff were having to direct people upstairs to find a seat, although I was content propped up at the bar and therefore didn’t venture up there myself. There was a pretty funky soundtrack going on in the background throughout my stay, but the pub’s terrible acoustics combined with a decent crowd meant that it was often lost under the general hubbub, none more so than when someone walked into the pub to a chorus of ‘Happy Birthday’ from a bunch of friends who were clearly there to surprise him. The pub seems to have some links to the Laine and Hepworth breweries, as their beer were heavily represented on the keg lines, whilst the solitary operational handpull was dispensing Laine Breaker, which I sampled and thought was a bit below-par, resulting in me switching to the keg Hepworth stout for my final beer before heading home. This place seemed nice enough and I was certainly happy plonked at the bar for a couple of pints. On later reflection though, the pub’s food-led feel and limited ale range of dubious quality were big downsides and I think a return here would be more likely for food rather than for another quick drink.

Official site of The Earth & Stars - www.earthandstars.pub

Official site of The Earth & Stars - www.earthandstars.pub

Coming here after the nearby Foundry, I found it bright and welcoming, with the level of the background music allowing conversation without shouting. There were just two beers on among the four hand pumps at the time of my visit, Bartleby Blonde and Dark Star Creme Brulee, which does exactly what it says on the pump clip: it's a beer that tastes like crème brulee. The barman was very friendly and efficient, serving customers, bringing food from the dumb waiter, eating his own meal and answering my questions about the carved wooden zodiac on the ceiling. And there were hooks on the bar, which usually gets an extra point from me! Date of visit: 3rd January 2017

A small corner pub with a basic but lively feel about it.Three beers were on handpull I tried local brewery Bartlebys Calico which I found to be a little wishy washy for a 4.2% beer, I liked the pub though and would include it in another pub crawl of the area.