The Jolly Boatman, Newhaven

Will reopen summer 2023 as a community cafe and bar.

The Jolly Boatman is a short walk from the centre of Newhaven and when I visited on Tuesday evening a couple of weeks ago there were ten or so locals propping up the bar that is located on the right hand wall. There is seating in the centre of the pub and down some steps to the left is a pool table. Access to the toilets is also down a couple of steps on the rear wall and the gents was in the midst of being refurbished meaning there was no urinal or sink during my visit. The plasma screen was showing muted Sky Sports football and the jukebox was playing some random songs at a reasonable volume. The bar supports five hand pumps that were drawing two ales from Weltons and another two from 1648. The final hand pump was unused and the usual standard draught products all make an appearance. There is also a large selection of sweets on the back of the bar along with more varieties of crisps than one can shake a potato at. I found the service to be friendly, but there was a lot of faffing which made my wait for a pint long and slightly uncomfortable as I was being harassed by a local’s dog. Live jazz is advertised for Thursday nights from 20:30 and the weekly quiz on Sundays from 20:30 costs £2 to enter, but comes with a free buffet. This is a decent enough local pub and one of the better ones of the area. But much like the town of Newhaven, I wouldn’t go out of my way to visit here again.