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The Cricketers Arms, Polegate

Pub added by elizabeth mcgraw
The Village
Berwick
Postal town: Polegate
BN26 6SP
Phone: 01323870469

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


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

Fine old Harvey's pub in a small village at the foot of the downs, with a leafy beer garden at the front (plus a larger, plainer one at the back). Once inside the compact general seating area (with a welcome wood-burner), you find the bar counter in front of you and similarly sized dining rooms to the left and right. Sussex Best and am excellent Old (£5.00) available from two of the three handpumps, with the casks visible from a glazed door into the rear taproom. Harvey's 'Prussian hopped' Pilsner also available from one of the keg taps.

On 11th February 2024 - rating: 8
[User has posted 8066 recommendations about 8066 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Aqualung . left this review about The Cricketers Arms

For me this is unquestionably Harvey's best pub and would automatically go into any list of top Southern Pubs.
Berwick is a village of two halves, this pub being on the Northern edge of the original village and the other half being a mile or so to the North centred around the railway station. The village is magnificently overlooked by the South Downs escarpment.
It is set far enough from the busy A27 (it took me nearly five minutes to get across it!) to avoid any traffic noise. It's on the right down the lane but you're more likely to spot the pub sign than the building itself as it is partially hidden by the extensive front garden which is traversed via a rough paved path.
You go through a door into the bar area which is basic with a few benches & scrubbed tables and a red tiled floor. On either side are carpeted rooms with tables and chairs primarily for eating. Behind the bar is the "cellar" which I was pleased to see is now temperature controlled. There is also a rear garden which had a marquee in it filled with tables and chairs.
The three beers available were Old, Armada and Best all served straight from the cask. Prices were £3.60 for the Best, £3.70 for the Old and £3.75 for the Armada. As I had nearly an hour and a half before my bus returned from Eastbourne I tried all three. The Old and Armada were both very good but the Best was outstanding.
I got here at opening time on Saturday and not surprisingly was the only one in apart from the barmaid wrapping cutlery in serviettes. Various groups soon started drifting in including what looked like a Morris Dancing team.
There is a sign on the A27 saying that it's open all day from 11:00 but I suspect that applies to Summer (May to September) although I believe it's open the whole day Saturday all year round.
The infrequent 125 bus goes from Lewes Bus Station to Eastbourne and passes the top of the village lane.
I haven't been to many pubs in the South better or as good as this so it gets a 10.

On 1st October 2015 - rating: 10
[User has posted 2143 recommendations about 2143 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Steve C left this review about The Cricketers Arms

The Cricketers Arms is located just off the A27 and is a village pub with a leaning towards food. Granted my visit was on a Sunday afternoon when diners are more likely to be found in a pub, but everyone was eating and it was busy. The pub is split into three areas as the central bar area is flanked either side by seating areas. I was a little disappointed as I approached the bar as I could only see four draught taps that were drawing Amstel, Kronenburg, Guinness and Thatchers Gold. Thankfully after asking the barmaid where the advertised fine cask ales were she closed the door of a room behind the bar revealing the ale list of Harveys Best, Armada, Tom Payne and a pale ale. I opted for the Tom Payne which was well served from the back room. Whilst waiting at the bar I had a gander at the menu and noted that the mains ranged between the £9.50 and £15 mark and the kitchen is open daily from midday until 21:00.

There are no noise distractions as there is no TV or Music and a sign at the door requests that mobile phones are switched off. Children are permitted in the pub, but not in the bar area and standard licensing hours are in operation. There is a large garden at the front of the pub that has plenty of picnic tables and a lawn area at the rear has some more picnic tables. There is parking down the side of the pub and the rear car park separates the back garden from a large empty field that is signed as the Cricketers Arms Underground Sewage Treatment Plant. Being underground I saw no signs of any treatment plant and the beer certainly didn’t come straight from a sewer as it was on good form. There is more parking down the road if the rear car park is full.

This is the sort of pub I would earmark for a family day out on a sunny afternoon, much like all the other village pubs of this stretch of the A27.

On 22nd July 2011 - rating: 8
[User has posted 5179 recommendations about 5148 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


. Wittenden left this review about The Cricketers Arms

A pair of knapped flint cottages in a small village at the foot of the South Downs. In front is a pretty garden, well planted. Mercifully, cars are relegated to the side and back of the pub. A slightly confusing choice of front doors leads into a flag stoned floored bar, with extra rooms to right and left. In fact, the room to the left of the bar is fairly recent, but in keeping with the rest of the pub. A fire in the hearth, and chalk boards advertising the days’ specials.
This is a Harveys tied house, with the added bonus of serving its beers by gravity.This, alongside the use of sparklers, is a divisive and contentious issue, but to my mind, Southern beers, such as Harveys, are infinitely better served direct from the cask. Here, the beers are on stillage in a cellar off the bar, away from the heat and bustle of the servery. Today, Sussex Best Bitter, Armada Ale and Sussex xxxx Old Ale were available.I’m a great fan of Sussex Best Bitter, but tend to shy away from it in the free trade, as I fear it is often the token real ale. Here one need have no qualms:my pint was presented in perfect condition. I’d not tried Armada ale before:appley and marmalade, it’s SBB’s suave elder brother. However, the star of the lunchtime was Sussex xxxx Old ale:black, luscious and reassuring.
Our visit was on a sunny early spring lunchtime, with a good number of families, couples and convivial groups of comfortable looking folk. As is the way of things,much of the pub is given over to dining, but I would not have felt out of place if I’d popped in for a pint on my way back from work.Reading the Good Beer Guide, the pub is credited with the sought after “Q” sign, meaning it’s a quiet pub:looking around, I couldn’t see any machines, and musak was mercifully absent.Conversation (and laughter) reigned. I was in a sausage mood, and found the herby local bangers on top form. The food didn’t look fussy-decent chips and plenty of veg, and not overly dear for the area.
The girls behind the bar were welcoming and quietly efficient,and my tab was corrected, in my favour, before I’d had time to study it. I’d been meaning to come here since about 1975,but events had precluded it: I don’t plan to wait so long until my next visit. An excellent pub,it has a good chance of being our pub of the year.

On 17th March 2011 - no rating submitted
[User has posted 283 recommendations about 282 pubs]