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Disappointment of the week with Tris39
on the Pub Forum
Detail Pages
The Black Rabbit, Arundel
South Stoke
Postal town: Arundel
BN18 9PB
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 8 of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Blackthorn _ left this review about Black Rabbit Inn
A good sized pub in a great location alongside the river, it makes the most of the setting with plenty of outside seating, some of it undercover and some in the fresh air. The downside of this of course is that it can attract large crowds, and punters were queueing out the door to be served on a recent sunny Saturday afternoon, although the friendly staff were doing their best to cope.
Internally it’s divided in to a number of different rooms, all running along the front of the pub. Décor wise it’s probably fairly rustic but in a contemporary sort of way with neutral colours and wooden boards on the floor. A wood burning stove was in a free standing chimney breast and a number of black and white portrait photographs of the Woodhouse family were displayed on the wall, as well as a number of vintage cameras that had been mounted in picture frames. Just inside the door was a canoe that had apparently been used in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and this was separated from the rest of the pub by some partitioning made of wicker and oars. A snug with a number of bookshelves on the wall was at the far end.
The menu looked to consist of a decent selection of “pub grub” dishes with options such as fish & chips, burger, ham egg & chips, steak & ale pie, etc., and these were mostly priced around the £9 - £12 mark.
Beers on tap were all from Hall & Woodhouse and on this occasion were Bouncing Bounder, First Call and Tangle Foot. The solitary cider was Stowford Press.
On 8th June 2016
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1947 recommendations about 1860 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about Black Rabbit Inn
This pub enjoys a spectacular setting right on the River Arun, with Arundel Castle in the distance. On a hot sunny Friday in August it was doing a roaring trade. It’s clearly a destination pub for those wanting a meal in delightful surroundings, as it can’t have any locals with no houses nearby. And it’s the outside seating that makes this place a bit special. It has more ouside seating than any other pub that I’ve seen (and I’ve seen a lot of pubs), with most of it stretching a hundred yards or so by the riverside. I reckon it’s on the hot summer days that this place makes its money, and they will have had a number of bonanza days this year.
The inside is rather nice as well, although it’s clear that the whole enterprise is geared up for diners. But of course you can have just a drink if you want. One of the walls inside has a wall decorated with cameras for some reason, and there’s also some history of the brewers’ families on another of the walls. It necessarily has lots of parking. As well as the car park just before you get to the pub, there’s another larger car park beyond the pub.
It’s a Hall & Woodhouse pub, so the ales presented no surprises with Tanglefoot, Badger Bitter and Fursty Ferret on. I would say that the food quality fell into the “OK” category, which I suppose is “OK” for somewhere producing food on an industrial scale. It’s not particularly cheap, as they are selling the location, with, for example, steak and ale pie weighing in at £10.65. And they committed one of my personal pub annoyances, with the chips turned into a soggy mess by having loads of gravy poured over them. But the steak and ale pie itself was good.
I’ve been to this pub several times over the last 30 years or so, and will no doubt visit again sometime. It’s worth a visit for the setting alone.
On 24th August 2013
- rating: 8
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
LMKI LMKI left this review about Black Rabbit Inn
Went here recently, love the location, esp on a sunny day as it was when we went, sat outside overlooking the river. Service was good and the food was lovely.
On 2nd September 2010
- rating: 8
[User has posted 11 recommendations about 11 pubs]