Visited June 29th, 2009 by Malcolm & Raymond
On our original list this was the last pub on our project but as we’ve gone along the way, some people have pointed out 3 pubs that we’ve missed-this means that we’ve got an excuse to keep supping pints for a few more weeks. This week we have to walk past the church which sends a shiver down Ray’s spine and causes him to quicken his pace. With a furtive look over his shoulder he’s relieved to find himself at the pub entrance and into sanctuary!
| Location: |
| Demolished and rebuilt in 1925, although a beer house has been on this site since 1832. Large, popular two bar traditional “country style pub”. Turn left before the Broadwater church on the A24, coming south through Broadwater – luckily it’s on the same route as my daughter’s house, so I drop in here on the way back, cheers! |
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| Drink: |
Well stocked bar with a selection of real ales. Harveys Sussex Best bitter, John Smiths, Fullers London Pride, Caffreys and the fantastic Wychwood Hobgloblin – going to keep a barrel of this next to my bed, beats Ovaltine! |
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| Food: |
Offering a “OAP Lunch Meal Deal”, separate “Panini Selection” and of course, the main menu. All good size portions – felt having brown and tomato sauce bottles on each table lowered the tone! |
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| Staff: |
Can’t speak highly enough, all the women dressed in black T-shirts with pub motif and black trousers. One lady on her break, stopped eating and served me – obliging to a fault! |
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| Service: |
First rate, all the ladies were friendly, very professional – relaxed but efficient! |
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| Clientele: |
Malcolm struck up a conversation with an old work colleague, who came in with four women in tow – lucky bugger! |
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Atmosphere/
Ambiance: |
Quite a buzz in here – the sound coming mainly from well nourished customers licking their lips as they tucked into their chunky chips! |
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| Decor: |
Walls half wood paneled, complimented with up-lighting. Felt a pleasant breeze from the air-con units on the ceiling. Plenty of prints of old Worthing, a table display of “What’s on in Sussex” leaflets. Has an adjoining sports room with darts, pool and gaming machines. The owner’s boxer dog roamed around the bars, sniffing the occasional customer – that’s fine if you like dogs! |
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| Music: |
We locked onto the background music, certainly hit the spot, Robert Palmer, Style Council, Spencer Davies – we’re liking this! |
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Beer Garden/
Childrens Play Area: |
Out front, picnic tables/seating enclosed by a cobbled/brick wall, plus a delightful beer garden. Children and Malcolm are welcome here until 8pm. Boasts a conservatory dining area and a separate heated smoking room – the only problem we see, is that you won’t want to leave! |
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| Parking: |
Has a wide entrance to the right of this pub that leads to a car park at the rear. Having parked your car, there’s a gate that brings you into the beer garden, then through into the pub. We stood in the car park and looked around – Malcolm said, looking devilish, “Shall we hot wire that white car”, “I think not” I said, “It’s a police car!” |
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| Toilets: |
To a good standard, liked their cream and bottle green tiles, clean and well maintained. I knew Malcolm had been in here – there was an empty bottle of Grecian 2000 in the sink! |
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| Disabled Accessibility: |
Easy to get around in here, but you will need to negotiate a few steps up into the conservatory and beer garden – but well worth the effort! |
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| Kerb-side Appeal: |
Lovely looking building, colourful flower baskets, cobbled/flint walls, churchlike stone window frames with original leaded light windows. Excellent black and gold signage – just a shame we don’t own it! |
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| Overall Rating: |
9/10 |
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| Would We Return?: |
You bet, great ale, great food, great staff, great surroundings – just a shame the bloke next to me was starting to “grate” on me! |
Visited June 15th, 2009 by Malcolm & Raymond
You’re not wanted by the police?, I casually said to Ray.
By now Ray had beads of sweat on his brow as he asked me why I’d asked him that.
Well we’re going to the Wheatsheaf and it’s next to the Law Courts- I don’t want any embarrassing scenes as we’re supping our pints.
Better go incognito then said Ray as he put on his false beard and glasses.
Come to think of it he doesn’t look any different with the disguise on!!
| Location: |
| The Wheatsheaf is a relaxed and friendly pub, tucked away on Richmond Road, slightly out of the town centre. This one bar pub is situated between and slightly over powered by the library and the council offices. Originally built circa 1835, was at one time known as the Kemp Town Brewery you’ll – you’ll not miss the delightful shade of diarrhoea green! |
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| Drink: |
Not a great choice of real ales, plenty of Guinness and lagers on draught though. Enjoyed their Harvey’s Sussex Best Bitter and Arundel ale – so no complaints there, except for no beer mats on our table! |
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| Food: |
It was yummy! ‘Sheaf Summer Menu includes jackets, doorstep sandwiches, deserts and so much more. “Express lunch for £5” includes a glass of wine, a soft drink or a coffee so well worth trying. When the food was ready, the chef shouted “Order” which reminded us of the Speaker of the House of Commons - the difference was that the kitchen was open to view so at least they weren’t trying to hide anything from us! |
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| Staff: |
They kept themselves busy and looked as if they cared about the place. No pub uniform but acceptable casual clothes. The chef wore the obligatory chef’s gear and looked the part – not sure about the gel and his red highlights, still, whatever floats your boat! |
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| Service: |
Top notch. Food served on square plates with black napkins. We were made to feel welcome from the start – for Malcolm and I, this is a rarity these days, so we warmed to these guys straight away! |
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| Clientele: |
Two young girls came in, tight jeans, frizzy hair, leather jackets, they disappeared behind the bar, never to be seen again – couldn’t decide if they were evening staff in early or the bloody cabaret! |
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Atmosphere/
Ambiance: |
The gentle murmur of conversation came from eight ladies all blonde – how weird! |
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| Decor: |
The whole place seems to have had a “make-over” by an interior designer. Netting on the ceiling and walls with flashing fairy lights, leather sofas, natural wood furniture, brown stained bar area and the same wood panels on the walls. There was a freestanding dispenser near us, should you have a sudden desire for a jellybean – makes a change from a f**king durex machine! |
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| Music: |
Apparently, you will find a DJ here most weekends. Excellent selection of blues and jazz with a modern feel was playing while we were there – not something we more traditional “old gits” recognised but it was bloody good! |
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Beer Garden/
Childrens Play Area: |
There is chrome seating out front by the main road. We did not see the French doors at first but we walked along the flint walled alleyway with hanging baskets and found it opens up into a pretty courtyard with a wooden and chrome seating area – what a surprise, didn’t expect that and, oh joy, not a screaming child in sight! |
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| Parking: |
You can park out front near the law courts for a couple of hours – make sure your tax disc is current or you’ll be nicked for sure! |
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| Toilets: |
Reasonable standard. Recently installed Armitage Shanks urinals still gleaming white. Malcolm came out and said, that someone had trashed the cubicle – hope that doesn’t make him a prime suspect! |
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| Disabled Accessibility: |
Easy access for wheelchair users though the front and side entrances although going to the toilet will need drinkers to be able to get up a step or two – pay a visit before you pay a visit! |
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| Kerb-side Appeal: |
Attractive building, top half painted white with Tudor style timbers with the rest painted green with subtle signage – very inviting. A great place to recharge your batteries before venturing into the town! |
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| Overall Rating: |
8/10 |
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| Would We Return?: |
Yes, being avid library users, next time we’ll pop in for a couple of bevies – or three or four! |
Visited June 8th, 2009 by Malcolm & Raymond
We’re making rapid progress on our project now because we’re starting to visit the pubs beginning with W. There are 2 of them, the Warwick and the Wheatsheaf and they’re both in town. This means that we have to walk our familiar route crossing Broadwater bridge, past the building scaffolding and negotiating our way past all the customers standing, sitting or sleeping on the pavement outside the Sir Timothy Shelley. After that we can sip our much deserved pints.
| Location: |
| Probably started out as a private house, then became a brewery for a while. During 1995-98 was known as “Hogshead Cask Ale Emporium”. Now a busy town-centre pub, but pretty mediocre. “The Warwick” sits in the middle of a pedestrian precinct known as Warwick Street – what an amazing coincidence, the pub has the same name as the street! |
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| Drink: |
The quality and range of real ales here has been drastically reduced since it’s days as the “Hogs Head”, we’re told. We enjoyed their chilled Ruddles, but the IPA was f**king awful – warm piss came to mind! |
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| Food: |
We were both going to join the aficionados of “greasy spoon” blow-outs and have the “Warwick Breakfast” for £4.95, but unfortunately Malcolm’s giro hadn’t come through in time. I spied two very large salads being served to a couple of old biddies, looked O.K. (I meant the salads not the old biddies). Sensed we didn’t want to eat here – so we didn’t! |
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| Staff: |
We’re a bit old school, expect to see staff dressed smart casual, polite, friendly and on top of their game – a shame they weren’t! |
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| Service: |
Got the impression that everyone was a bit disinterested – and guess what? So were we! |
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| Clientele: |
I think they must bus these people in from the nearest council estate. Gold bling, tattoos, hairy bodies, tanned, wrinkled, in shorts and sandals – and that was just Malcolm!
A “Humphrey Bogart” look-a-like came in, wearing a dented trilby, creased jacket and slept-in trousers – he’s was living proof you can still kit yourself out for less than a fiver at a charity shop! He downed his pint and left – well before we had taken our first sip!
Malcolm said “That bloke over there looks like a poor man’s David Dickinson” – he certainly wasn’t “the real deal”! |
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Atmosphere/
Ambiance: |
The normal banter between staff and customers was interrupted by a child whingeing directly behind us. We gave disapproving stares – as if to say, this is a pub not a f**king crèche! |
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| Decor: |
Painted out in cream and burgundy with a black sheet draped across the ceiling – well naff!
Behind the bar is the original wooden shelf unit with a wide screen TV in the middle. Each shelf displayed different bottles, lit up in reds, blues and greens. Chrome stools, original wooden floors, window seats and pool tables. We sat directly under a powerful extractor unit – it felt as though we were having a “Joan Rivers” face lift! |
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| Music: |
Four wide screen TV’s, showing music channels, from Eminem to Madonna – we went cross-eyed trying to watch them all at once! |
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Beer Garden/
Childrens Play Area: |
Sorry not here, space is limited, it’s a town pub – Malcolm was disappointed there wasn’t a see-saw, he’s been feeling a bit “up and down” lately! |
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| Parking: |
It’s a pedestrian precinct, so leave the car behind and enjoy a nice walk down here in the sunshine – we did, but then wished we hadn’t bothered! |
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| Toilets: |
Dull cream and turquoise tiles – looked so yuk! The lock on the cubical door was broken and some kind person had kicked a hole in the plaster board, probably looking for a toilet roll. A durex machine and three large mirrors adorned the walls – so you can stand and watch yourself practice putting one on before the big night! |
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| Disabled Accessibility: |
Steps up at the entrances on Warwick Street and steps up if you’re accessing the pub from Ann Street. Once in, there are another three steps to negotiate. Bad news if you’re in a wheelchair. I didn’t see the step down on leaving the loo – nearly bloody ruptured myself! |
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| Kerb-side Appeal: |
Attractive hanging baskets and a fresh coat of paint, may win you over. Tanked up, shirtless characters sat outside at chrome tables and chairs – CCTV scanned their every move, very wise! |
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| Overall Rating: |
4.5/10 |
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| Would We Return?: |
Not bloody likely, although they’ve got the decorators in, it will still remain a dive -because of the dubious low-life they attract as regular customers! |