East Street Tap, Brighton

Having gone through a few names over the years, the East Street Tap moniker has been in place for a few years now. It seems, on entering, that whatever fixtures and fittings applied previously were simply removed with a sledge hammer and that was that, given the tatty bare brickwork and exposed light bulbs. The toilets feature plenty of graffiti. 4 handpumps adorn the bar and, on a previous visit, served up a passable Gun Pale. This time, however, there was no cask ale to be had, so craft keg it was - there's a wide selection but only the Laine's Source Pale was hitting the low-ABV / no odd flavourings sweet-spot. To be honest, we only use the place as a rendezvous before moving on to a gig at Chalk round the corner and I really couldn't envisage spending the entire evening in such a squalid environment.

Official site of East Street Tap - www.eaststreettap.pub

Official site of East Street Tap - www.eaststreettap.pub

This is a relatively new and quite cosy craft beer bar located a short hop from the seafront in the streets approaching the famous Brighton Laines. The bar has a simple, single room set-up with dark floorboards, bare brick walls and neon lighting combining surprisingly well to create a hip but comfortable little drinking space. There is a traditional dark wood bar counter along the left hand wall with the keg taps all on the bar back in typical craft beer bar style, whilst the hand pumps are sited on the counter, mas you would expect. Some mid-height scaffold tables run in two rows through the centre of the room and to the right, supported by high stools. The ceiling has an unusual look, as it has been covered in metal lattice rods used in concreting, behind which there are red neon lights. It's quite an effective look but I can't begin to imagine how they came up with this idea. Pump clips snake their way up a pillar opposite the bar and elsewhere the walls have been decorated with various gig flyers and graffiti-style artworks. A sign noted that there is additional seating upstairs, but this wasn't required on a slow Friday afternoon visit, so I didn't explore. An appropriately hip soundtrack played throughout my stay and I noticed they were putting lots of different events on, ranging from comedy nights, to live music and tap takeovers. I visited just after lunch, so no-one was eating, but there seemed to be a reasonable selection of burgers available from the small menu. There were four ales on the go - Dark Star Hophead and APA, Gun Red Ale and Langham Halfway to Heaven, but I'm not sure cask ale is their primary focus, as sixteen keg taps lined the bar back, offering a mix of small batch craft and national mainstream brands. My Halfway to Heaven was pretty ropey to be honest, which was disappointing at £4.20 a pint, but I have a friend who visits fairly regularly and he maintains this was likely to be a one-off aberration. I liked the feel of this place and can imagine having a good night here if there was a livelier crowd in. The place felt very comfortable, in contrast to a lot of modern craft beer places and whilst its still not really one for the purist, I think it could be the sort of place that has a broader appeal than most and I'd definitely pop in again when I'm next passing.

Cracking fish & chips! Different batters, place looks amazing now after a refurb, really like the DJs & Sugga Buddha nights, my best late night place!

The Fishbowl was fairly busy with a fresher contingent when I visited early evening last week. I think that there was some music playing in the background, but it was difficult to tell over the clamour of drunken youth. The bar is stocked with some standard and premium draught products and a giant fishbowl almost hid the two hand pumps from me that were drawing W J King’s Red River and Brighton Best. I opted for the Best which was well served by a polite enough young man. I found the décor to be very basic and I couldn’t work out if the pub was a bit grubby or whether it was just the students. Before I left I popped up to the toilet and discovered an upstairs seating area where I would have sat if I had known of its existence. I wasn’t that taken with this place and do not plan to revisit anytime soon.