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The Eagle, Eastbourne
Eastbourne
BN21 4UT
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7½ of 10) see review guidelines
Steve of N21 left this review about The Eagle
This Little Chelsea pub was one of the best in town when I visited the last time I was in Eastbourne some four years ago, so I was eager to look it up again. Internally unchanged from my previous visit and the roof top garden is still an excellent spot if you can get a seat.
Three ales and two ciders on the six pumps for this visit, with Dark Star Hop Head and Marstons Pedigree alongside the permanent Harveys Sussex Best on the ale front. So not as interesting as my previous visit but the Hop Head was very well kept. I still though this was performing well and well worth visiting. In fact all three Little Chelsea area pubs were good for this visit, so this is an area you should visit when in Eastbourne.
11th July 2019
Situated on the edge of the Little Chelsea area of Eastbourne we found this to be a very pleasant pub for an evening drink. As mentioned below it has a good ale house style internal decor and the larger room section to the left of the L shaped bar as you enter has a mix of seating styles from high tables and chairs by the windows to comfy settees by the back wall. This area has several screens which were showing a rerun of that day’s cricket World cup one day match fortunately with the sound muted as the number of screens is slightly overbearing and it is very difficult to find a place to sit in this section where you are not in the eye line of one of them.
Then the thinner far end has a pool table, the toilets and beyond here is a door marked Garden which actually leads out to a set of external stairs up to a rooftop patio area with five large garden bench seats which I would imagine is a nice spot on a fine weather day.
Still the six hand pumps with four ales and two ciders and alongside the ubiquitous Harveys Best in this part of the world were the more interesting Otter Funk ‘N Soul Otterfest, Fallen Acorn Brewing Hole Hearted and Hypnosis Pale from the Brighton based Loud Shirt brewing company. Between us we went through all three of these which were well kept and along with the cheerful friendly service levels from the young girls working behind the jump made this a good pub visit.
On 11th July 2023
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2110 recommendations about 1992 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Eagle
Redone in an alehouse style, this seems to be a popular pub for customers of all ages. The newly dark exterior may look a bit foreboding, but the mixed furniture and decor inside the rectangular bar works quite well. There is also a pool table at the far end and live music is advertised. Two of the six handpumps dispense ciders, with the seasonal Wychwood Bah Humbug and Butcombe Chris Moose (£3.35) available in addition to Ringwood Forty Niner and the regular Harvey's being the beer choice.
On 23rd December 2018
- rating: 7
[User has posted 8092 recommendations about 8092 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Danny O'Revey left this review about The Eagle
Atmospheric opened up pub with wood board floor, deifferent seating areas & beer badges on the wall. Big screens, some sofas, a pool table at one end & 3 well kept real ales.
On 29th October 2014
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1456 recommendations about 1434 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
John Bonser left this review about The Eagle
Occupying a prominent street corner position in the Little Chelsea area of Eastbourne is The Eagle, a large brick built building that retains branding high up of its former days as a Kemptown Brewery pub. More recently, it had been a Whitbread pub.
Inside, we find a number of adjoining different areas. The largest room is at the near end and features half height boarded wood panelling. It’s quite a dark room with subdued lighting, gas lamps and a dark green colour scheme. There’s a mixture of seating, with several sofas in one corner, but largely traditional seats and tables.
At the opposite end of the pub is a much smaller public bar area, dominated by a billiards table and with a fine collection of beermats on the walls.
The bar servery is in the middle room and features some unusual curved coloured glass behind the bar and some attractive cornicing featuring grapes and leaves.
There’s plenty of TV screens dotted about and, on my Sunday afternoon visit in April, a lively good humoured crowd of regulars and holidaymakers were watching the West Ham v Liverpool match. This did rather dominate proceedings, although, on a decent day, refuge would have been available on an upstairs roof terrace.
According to a small leaflet which I happened to come across in the local Tourist Information Office, the pub is one of five pubs that participates in the “South Street Shuffle Ale Trail” in which, you get a stamp when you buy a real ale. All five stamps entitles you to a £ 5 food voucher, redeemable in any of the participating pubs. Notably, I didn’t recall seeing this leaflet displayed in the pub itself.
On the real ale front, there’s 6 pumps which were serving the ubiquitous Harveys Best, plus beers from Moorhouses and 360 degrees. The latter brewery, I later learnt, is based at Sheffield Park, near the terminus of the Bluebell Railway. A 10p discount for CAMRA members is prominently advertised. Beer was in good nick and the pub often appears in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide.
Despite the Little Chelsea location, it’s a relatively unpretentious, likeable place, and I’d be happy to revisit, but preferably at a quieter time
On 11th May 2014
- rating: 7
[User has posted 560 recommendations about 560 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve C left this review about The Eagle
The Eagle has changed a bit since my last visit in 2008 and I’m glad to report that things have vastly improved. The friendly barmaid informed me that this pub is now run by the same team that run the decent Dew Drop around the corner. My visit was on Friday afternoon when all of the ale was £2 a pint as they tried to clear out the stocks to make way for a jubilee beer festival which was due to take place in both of the pubs over the weekend. The six hand pumps were drawing Harvey’s Best, Arundel’s Black Stallion and Jubilee, Rother Valley’s Honey Fuzzzzzzzzzzzz, Dark Star’s Old Chestnut and Old Rosie cider. There is also a standard draught selection and I saw someone eating a pasta bake dish so basic food is available.
The interior is L shaped with the main body of seating in the left hand side of the pub where there is a large projector screen that was rolled up during my visit. Sky Sports is shown when something worthwhile is being played and this pub gets very busy when a premier league football match is on. The bar is to the right and beyond there is a small room that houses a plasma screen, pool table and dartboard. Often at the weekends there is a DJ that draws a younger crowd, but during my stay the music was courtesy of a local radio station complete with annoying advertisements.
The roof terrace is still in use and I’ve still not had reason to venture up there for a look.
This is one of the better pubs in Eastbourne and more than worthy of a visit if in town.
On 4th June 2012
- rating: 8
[User has posted 5233 recommendations about 5201 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about The Eagle
Imposing corner pub with attractive stained glass behind the bar. Four ale pumps of which two were operational, with Harveys Best (yawn) and Dark Star Over the Moon; like the Maxim, I guess the footy fans had drunk the beer and like the Maxim I was disappointed to see no obvious effort being made to get the ales back on (though at least here there were still two standing). My Dark Star was in good shape though and served in a handled mug. I’ve also written down '2 ciders' but I have no recollection of what they might have been. The main bar was rammed with footy fans so we headed upstairs onto the roof top garden which is actually some Astroturf with a few tables and a couple of bird boxes, which pleased the ladies. It’s a neat set-up and we enjoyed our sojourn up there. I’d give this one another go when there’s no football on to get a better picture.
On 24th August 2011
- rating: 6
[User has posted 5072 recommendations about 5055 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Dave Stanbridge left this review about The Eagle
Fantastic selection of ever changing local real ales, kept in excellent conditon. I've been in a few times now and sampled beer from 1648 in East Hoathly, Whites from Bexhill, Rother Valley to name but a few. It's a shame about all the tv screens around the place, which ruin the ambience of what could be a real great real ale pub.
On 18th May 2010
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1 recommendations about 1 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve C left this review about The Eagle
I spent an afternoon here recently, but had to leave due to the depressing music that was being piped out. The barmaid was curt when I walked in and friendly when I left, I'm not sure whether to take that as an insult or not?!!
I noticed the big projector screen and table football at the other end of the bar where there are some stairs to a balcony area. Unsurprisingly Harveys bitter was available along with the usual lager suspects.
A weekday afternoon is never going to be the liveliest time but surely depressing music isn't going to pull in the punters.
On 12th August 2008
- rating: 5
[User has posted 5233 recommendations about 5201 pubs]