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Reviews (Current Rating Average: 8½ of 10) see review guidelines
Steve C left this review about The Watchmakers Arms
Opening daily at midday I had a few minute wait for the doors to open on Saturday just gone. This is a well-to-do area, and it was a the best day of the year for the weather, so I didn’t mind a bit of people watching. The Watchmakers Arms is a laminate floored single room shop converted micro with a front bay window and high benches up the side walls that face high tables and stools. Hops and a bit of ivy hang from the ceiling and there’s pub and watch ephemera on the walls, the décor has been done well. The short serving counter sits in the right rear corner in front of a glass doored temperature controlled ‘cellar’ which houses gravity fed casks. The five available local cask beers were Downlands Lost Weekend and Lucid Dream, Gun Brewery’s Chummy Bluster, Long Man’s Long Blonde and Only With Love Brewery’s Champion. I went for the Lost Weekend which was an OK stout. There were also a couple of craft keg options, but this place is really about the ale. Having just opened I was the only customer for the duration of my stay, but a couple of the tables had been reserved for early afternoon. The polite welcome and location by Hove Railway Station means that I’ll certainly be visiting again at some point.
On 3rd April 2024
- rating: 8
[User has posted 5249 recommendations about 5217 pubs]
Blue Scrumpy left this review about The Watchmakers Arms
Micropub with its own microbrewery set in a parade of shops just down from Hove railway station.
The bar is set at the far end of the room, with a cool room behind it from where the ales and ciders are dispensed. A board to the left of the bar lists the real ales, ciders and craft beers.
The pub was reasonably busy, but didn't quite have the friendly feel of most micropubs. In fact, a cluster of locals near the bar seemingly all had dogs which would bark and attack customers heading to the toilets. Although, I've seen bigger cats than the most agressive one!
Ales on were Moor Old Freddy Walker, The Watchmakers Arms Bezel Best, Siren Liquid Mistress, Good Chemistry Sub Four & Arbor C Bomb. Ciders were SeaCider Medium & Hardcore, Ascension Unless You Think, Hallet's Heartbreaker, Gwatkin Yarlington Mill & Sandford Orchards Devon Red. Craft beers were UnBarred Stoutzilla & Pentrich Floor Pie.
Probably the best pub Hove has to offer. I have many more to explore in the area. So, there's a good chance I'll return here one day.
On 10th May 2023
- rating: 8
[User has posted 2452 recommendations about 2451 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Watchmakers Arms
Just a short way down the hill from Hove station, this is a very nice, welcoming micropub converted from the usual former shop unit. As such, it’s a typically narrow, bare boarded space with large shop windows to the front and rows of tables served by high stools and benches down either side of the room. There’s a small servery to the rear with a timber fronted counter and pump clip lined bar back, alongside some tankard strewn shelving to one side, whilst large quantities of hops hang from above. The room has been quite eclectically decorated, which helps give the place a lot more character than your average micro of this ilk. A bookcase to one side was stuffed full of old CAMRA Good Beer Guides and board games and the walls are covered with lots of unusual art prints and random bits of obscure breweriana as well as plenty of timekeeping themed bits and bobs, such as loads of old watches hanging from the ceiling, hinting at the shop’s former use. There are also some deer antlers being used as a cap rack and a boar’s head wearing a sombrero, which added a quirky, off-beat feel, contrasted by a popular Toad in the Hole table that some locals were loudly playing with great enthusiasm near the entrance. The room extends a short way past the bar, where a drinking ledge and high stools offer overspill seating options in an intensely pump clip lined space. Pavement seating is available outside in the summer months, but there was no sign of this on a cold Winter’s evening.
Beer boards listed a healthy selection of ales, mainly from the South East, comprising Vibrant Forest Kick Start, Watchmakers Bezel Bitter, Long Man Wolf Man, Burning Sky Plateau and Fallen Acorn Ooof! With a bit of a wait until my onward train, I had enough time to sample the Plateau and the Ooof!, both of which were in excellent condition and served to me by the genial landlord. There was a good crowd in, generating a nice buzz on a Saturday evening and I would have been more than happy to have stayed and tried their full range.
I thought this was one of the better micropubs I’ve visited over the years, having been fitted out with some decent seating, interesting décor and providing the crucially well-kept range of interesting, local beers. Its proximity to the train station makes it an obvious place to dive into before or after a journey and I’ll hope to find myself back out this way again to do exactly that.
On 20th March 2023
- rating: 9
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Moby Duck left this review about The Watchmakers Arms
Very busy on Friday lunchtime, but it is spacious enough to remain comfortable. Five cask beers on and a couple of keg,my cask Vibrant Forest Ekunot was in fine fettle.
A nice place with a good feel, handily close to Hove Station.
On 10th August 2019
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1872 recommendations about 1845 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Tris C left this review about The Watchmakers Arms
This establishment opened in 2015 as Hove (and Brighton’s) first micropub: a shop conversion which was once a clock shop, hence the name, with a 100L microbrewery.
100 yards from the railway station, it’s a narrow place that goes back a fair bit, with a small bar at 90 degrees to the main room and stillage to the rear behind what appears to be a double-glazed uPVC door, no doubt to help with insulation. There are high tables and stools which maximises space, along with some upholstered aluminium kegs as low stools.
I didn’t clock the ales available, though I know that someone in our quartet did. I sampled two and they were very good indeed, especially my example from Brighton Bier.
A very good cheerful atmosphere and friendly and helpful staff are just some of the elements that make this is a great drinkers’ destination, but I need my Yard of Ale over the bar, shove ha’penny and a ploughman’s for creature comforts. That said, I’d definitely return if in the area but, tempus fugit, so it was time to get the train back to Brighton.
On 1st April 2018
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1985 recommendations about 1951 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Real Ale Ray left this review about The Watchmakers Arms
Thanks to our pal Will for navigating us from the Prince Albert in Brighton and getting us to this excellent micropub at near the end of our PG crawl. Another bonus was the train journey only took 6mins and cost £2 return.
As Cider Drinker mentions below the owners, a husband and wife team who we met on our visit, were very friendly and welcoming and spent a few minutes chatting to us even when the pub was busy. One of the main features I remember was the collection of watches displayed along the wall near the bar. Four ales on our visit, I went for a very decent pint of 360 degrees Pale APA.
On 31st March 2018
- rating: 9
[User has posted 3382 recommendations about 3381 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Cider Drinker left this review about The Watchmakers Arms
I really like this pub, the staff/owners are very friendly and happy to aid in choice making. They have managed to retain some of the charm and character of the original horologists. I have to say this is my favorite micropub to date. A great selection of beers and ciders etc.
On 22nd March 2018
- rating: 9
[User has posted 19 recommendations about 19 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
paulof horsham left this review about The Watchmakers Arms
A shop conversion micropub, with the front room knocked through to the back, so there's more room here than in some. A few high tables in the front part, plus a couple more further in, where the bar is situated. Ale is brought out of a chilled room behind the bar, as is the custom in many southern micropubs.
5 ales are offered, with a strong emphasis on local breweries. No Name Stout from Brighton Bier slipped down nicely, although not as well as an exceptional pint of Hip Hop from Langhams - as good a pint as I've had in a long time.
One of the co-owners was behind (and in front of) the bar when I visited and was friendly and welcoming, as was one of the regulars also in attendance.
The Watchmakers is conveniently situated a few yards from Hove Station, with the frequent number 7 bus also stopping outside, so it's easy to include in a pub visit to Brighton & Hove; highly recommended.
On 8th December 2015
- rating: 8
[User has posted 453 recommendations about 425 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Aqualung . left this review about The Watchmakers Arms
The former M&B Domestic Appliances is set to become the Brighton area's first micropub, opening on Friday 01st May 2015.
On 2nd May 2015
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 2143 recommendations about 2143 pubs]