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Cambridge PuG Crawl, Friday 5th April 2024 with Gann on the Pub Forum

The Gardener's Arms, Lewes

46 Cliffe High Street
Lewes
BN7 2AN
Phone: 01273474808

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Reviews (Current Rating Average: 8 of 10) Add Review see review guidelines


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Quinno _ left this review about The Gardeners Arms

A compact two-bar corner freehouse on the old High Street. Eight handpumps offer Harveys plus guest ales from various micros (Hammerpot, Windsor&Eton, Beachy Head, Weltons and Ennerdale on my visit). Black Rat cider is also available as well as a good wine list. I sampled two of the ales and they were both in good nick even if the Beachy Head was, to put it politely, ‘not to my taste’. Friendly, attentive staff in attendance who were happy to engage in chat with us beer tourists. That extended to the welcoming punters who were clearly proud of their pub. Eggs, pickled onions and olives available as bar snacks, with sausages, pork pies and pasties (which come from ‘Bens’ a local organic butcher, fresh in each day) for the more hungry. An eclectic mix of background music too. Severely affected by the Lewes floods and some pictures on the walls commemorate the event. Berwick Rangers and Swindon Town memorabilia stems from the (former, I believe) landlord. Due its compactness, there’s not a huge amount of space or seats so you may end up out in the street. Local game Toad in the Hole available if there’s space.

This is a cracking little beer house which is top of my list next time I visit Lewes.

On 4th September 2010 - rating: 9
[User has posted 5043 recommendations about 5026 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Steve C left this review about The Gardeners Arms

This is a very small and basic pub in which I spotted seven hand pumps and apart from the Harveys Best the rest were all unseen by me before. I'm into my Guinness at the moment and I have to report that I was glad to see it in the very limited selection of draught products and it was spot on.

The music was a bit random, but it fitted the pub well and was played at a decent volume. The barmaid was a little off at the beginning of my visit, but she seemed to cheer up the longer I stayed. There were plenty of locals in that had managed to conjure up a bit of a whiff which I put down to the beer and meat pies.

I was wondering if this was the unluckiest pub in the south of England due to the pictures on the wall of a flood and a fire. There were no hints as to the origins of the photos so maybe it would be nice to put a little note on them so that non locals could be informed of the history.

I liked it in here as it is all about having a beer and a chat, but it's not the sort of place I'd go for a lad's night out – which I think is the whole point of the place.

On 4th November 2009 - rating: 7
[User has posted 5179 recommendations about 5148 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


paulof horsham left this review about The Gardeners Arms

Aah! Now this is a good pub. Small Free House: a central bar with drinking areas in front and behind.

Offers a good choice of ales (I counted 6 of them) and a pile of CAMRA mags from around the country to read while you drink.

Definitely the place I'd recommend in Lewes.

On 8th July 2009 - rating: 8
[User has posted 449 recommendations about 421 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Clive Thompson left this review about The Gardeners Arms

Imagine you could realise that dream and own your own ‘lifestyle' pub that you could do whatever you wanted with. Well you'd probably come up with something like the Gardeners Arms. Small, intimate and friendly with character and characters built up over the years. There's not much I'd change about it. The beer is the star of course, a free house with a diverse range of beers and cider, mainly from the South. I had the White's Dark Mild and then an excellent Iceni Men of Norfolk, supplemented by the, often difficult to find these days, perfect gastronomic accompaniment, a pork pie. This was the seventh pub on a solo Lewes crawl, next time I'll make it earlier and be a bit more selective.

On 14th June 2009 - rating: 10
[User has posted 777 recommendations about 697 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Gardeners Arms

A cracking pub, full of well-mannered beer lovers having a good time. They had an extensive range of real ales, including several from the Harveys brewery just across Cliffe High Street and other, also mostly local, smaller brewers and draught Black Rat cider from further afield. Top of the range.

On 19th April 2009 - rating: 9
[User has posted 8061 recommendations about 8061 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Malden man left this review about The Gardeners Arms

Pub of the day on yesterday's Lewes jaunt. A compact pub with a central bar, fairly limited seating and easily full, as it certainly deserves to be! Mainly wooden floors, small carpeted area to the rear, various pictures, breweriana etc, including some fascinating old 60's beer mats from a time forgotten. One picture of "The Burning of Richard Woodman" is very macabre and relates to the 16th century executions of protestant martyrs, 10 of which occurred in Lewes.
On a much lighter note, the pub has an ongoing garlic growing competition, where cloves were planted on the shortest day, to be harvested on the longest.
The local Toad in the Hole game is also played here if space allows.
Very well run and friendly with it, yesterday we had Harveys Sussex, Kiss,and Porter, Welton's Schneider Gold, not a lager type as I expected but a full flavoured ale, Dark Star Espresso Stout, Hammerpot White Wing and Black Rat cider. Top marks to the landlady as my pint of Kiss looked a little tired, she immediately spotted it, poured herself a small taster and offered an alternative without any words being spoken. That's got you a 9 instead of an 8!
Not sure who supports Swindon Town and who Berwick Rangers but both teams are well represented around the pub.
If you only do one pub in Lewes (which would be silly) make sure its this one. They did us carry outs too!

On 5th April 2009 - rating: 9
[User has posted 1707 recommendations about 1681 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


john mcgraw left this review about The Gardeners Arms

Small cosy street corner pub selling up to 6 real ales and "Black Rat" cider.Friendly locals and staff.

On 30th July 2008 - rating: 8
[User has posted 2044 recommendations about 2025 pubs]


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train man left this review about The Gardeners Arms

Certainly the Lewes pub with proper alternatives to Harveys, although I wouldn't quite go along with Alph's 'vast array' unless a)he visited during a beerfest or b)I missed a separate bank of beer offerings. Another Lewes crawl, another failure to make notes, sorry, but I recall 6or7 handpumps including Harveys Best, Darkstar Hophead, Sharp's Special Ale, Milestone Rich Ruby, & Moles Black Rat cider. Easily one of the pubs in town to 'play a joker' (have a 2nd pint) during a crawl.

On 1st July 2008 - no rating submitted
[User has posted 412 recommendations about 411 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Nigel Sheppard left this review about The Gardeners Arms

Selling some real ales is reasonable condition, quite a popular pub, worth a visit.

On 1st June 2007 - rating: 8
[User has posted 192 recommendations about 192 pubs]

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