The Tally-Ho, Old Town, Eastbourne

Please Note: This review is over a year old.

Steve C left this review about The Tally Ho Lounge Bar

After being closed for many months the Tally-Ho was purchased early in 2013 by the owners of the Two Bulls Steakhouse in Hastings. After extensive refurbishment to the tired interior the Tally-Ho reopened in August 2013 as the Two Bulls Steakhouse Eastbourne branch. Then in July 2014 I received a leaflet through my door advertising the Tally-Ho Lounge Bar which was the old public bar in the left hand side of the pub. I’m not a massive fan of ‘lounge bars’ so I was in no rush to visit this new addition to the Old Town scene. This is why it took me until New Year’s Eve to make my first (and last) visit.

It should be noted that this bar is only open Thursday to Saturday evenings and all day on Sundays. Its main function is to act as a pre/post meal relaxation area so many people pop in for a glass of wine before moving around to their table in the large dining area in the right hand side of the pub. Carlsberg and San Miguel were two of the four draught options available from the small serving area in the right rear corner. A lone redundant hand pump was being used as a cello tape holder and the Guinness was poured from can. Two Proseccos, Two San Miguel and a can of Guinness set me back £26, which I thought was extortionate. My wife informed me that the half cokes were £3 each, which is a piss take.

The furniture consists of high tables and chairs alongside lower tables with sofas and armchairs. In the bay window at the front is a small stage that supported a duo that was to provide the evening’s musical entertainment. Obviously the pool table has gone and the dartboard has been replaced by a stuffed bulls head. To be fair this place was how I expected it to be, but I don’t like paying over the odds so I’ll stick to the local pubs in future.

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24th November 2010

I wasn’t sure that this large corner pub was open as I approached on Wednesday evening a couple of weeks ago and the pub sign hanging outside had me thinking that the pub had turned into a restaurant as ‘Sheila’s Steakhouse’ is written under the ‘Tally-Ho’ name. I was going to carry on walking to the next pub when I spotted a sign near the darkened entrance that said ‘we are open’ so I decided to give the door a try and surprisingly access was gained. I was the only customer in the large bar area and the ample seating area to the right was closed along with the public bar which is undergoing some refurbishment. To be honest the whole pub seemed to be having some sort of work done and the seat that I chose to drink my decent pint of Guinness at had wires hanging down just above my head. The radio playing complete with adverts behind the bar didn’t add to the atmosphere and I felt like I had walked onto a building site. That said this pub does have a lot of potential as it has character and there are some positives in that the furniture is very nice and the two staff on duty were polite and friendly. There was no real ale on as the two hand pumps were unused and only a limited standard draught selection was available as again some of the taps were unused.

Ordinarily after walking into a pub in this mess I would not return, but as there seems to be some work going on I will pop back a few months from now to see if anything has improved.

On 10^th January 2017 - rating: 5
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