The Ship Inn, Winchelsea

Steve of N21 left this review about The Ship Inn

I was a bit confused by this one when I walked in because the bar area seemed a bit inconsequential to the rest of the indoor space, and it had more of the feeling of a café / restaurant than a pub. So I wasn’t actually surprised to read on Whatpub that it reopened in 2022 after the pandemic as a Café Bar as the décor is certainly fitting with that description. The area in front of the small bar does have a couple of comfortable settees to lounge in but the rest of the space to the left and right of the bar are set to tables for eating and certainly feels more café than pub. The drinks choices are limited and there is a solitary hand pump with the ubiquitous Harvey’s Sussex Best.
The butcher and deli mentioned in the review below is still there but it is now a bit self-contained and is to the right of the bar and set back from the bar room in its own separate room and you can get to it by walking down the path to the right of the building from the small front car park, as well as from the inside of the pub itself.
The one thing that is unchanged from Steve’s review below is the fantastic outside landscaped garden at the back. Its hard to describe but it more resembles well planted sand dunes, and you follow a path that winds its way through lush tall planting discovering individual sections with their own tables and chairs basically separated from all the other sections. So, it’s like having your own private garden space to drink and eat in. Dogs are welcome in this section, but they just have to be kept on a lead. That is perfectly sensible because if you let them off and they run off you are never going to find the bugger and other diners are not going to appreciate you disturbing their individual space whilst you hunt for your mutt.
This place is obviously set up to service people from the nearby Winchelsea Sands Holiday Park or people who are walking the excellent Rye Harbour nature reserve (which was us on this day). If you are looking to eat, then I would recommend this one over the Pub 31 down the road. If you are only after a beer then I would possibly say stick with Pub31, unless you have a fine weather day, when I would think you might like to experience the garden here.

On 2^nd September 2023 - rating: 6
[User has posted 2109 recommendations about 1991 pubs]