Rainbow, Old Town, Eastbourne

There's a rather strange entrance to this pub. It's located on a access road to the local Morrison's supermarket with no pavement. Even the cars struggle to squeeze along the road. So, be careful when arriving or leaving! The pub is slightly sunken from the road and steps lead down to a pleasant courtyard garden area and the pub itself. The entrance porch has doors to both the left and right. Although a sign on the left-hand door directs everybody to use the one on the right. The room accessed from the left-hand door is perhaps the most impressive in the pub, with a minstrel gallery above it. Although, the gallery appears to be in use as some kind of storage space. The right-hand side of the pub is more open and spreads around the central bar. Another door here also led into the garden. Harvey's Sussex Best Bitter is unsurprisingly the regular real ale. It was joined at the bar by Long Man Rising Giant. There was no sign of any diners on my late Monday afternoon visit, just a couple of after-work drinkers in the garden, with another couple of blokes arriving as I was about to leave. So, the pub did lack some atmosphere.

The Counting House became the Rainbow a few years ago and I have visited a few times since the name change. The owners have embraced dry sales, therefore at busy times, i.e. the weekend, this small pub is reserved for diners who have pre-booked. Drinkers are relegated to the garden meaning the pub feels more like a restaurant. The garden is a nice space, but isn’t as pleasant during colder months. When I popped in on Friday two of the three hand pumps were in use, Darkstar’s Hophead and an offering from Longman being the ale options. I had to ask the barman to top up my very short measured pint, and even after he had topped it up it was still purposely short. I had a burger here last year which I found to be very small and bland. I certainly didn’t think it was worth the money. However, this place is very popular with diners so maybe my family and I were just unlucky.

Student vibe in the bar, and student barman running up & down from cellar. We did wait a while but, whilst I can identify (from days of yore) with the probs of running a bar on yr own, it was all a bit chaotic & we moved on. The entrance & garden area looked quite grandiose & I expect that when things are running ok it's a decent place for a pint (Spitfire & Pride?). No rating yet.