Beer by the Sea
by Mike Lapworth
A motley crew of Kingston SPBW members and drinking associates headed off to sunny Brighton for the day one Saturday in February. The mission??? To check out some of the local drinking establishments.
The day got off to an interesting start as we arrived at Clapham Junction just in time to see Paddy and Roy disappear on a train down to the south coast without us!
Our first port of call on arrival in Brighton was -
The Evening Star (55-56 Surrey Street)
Given our dire need for liquid refreshment the pub was fortunately only 2 or 3 minutes walk from the station. A good selection awaited our tastebuds including 7 real ales (of which 3 are brewed by the Dark Star Brewery), 4 real lagers / wheat beer and 2 ciders. As we drank the pub gradually filled up with Brighton fans and lots of locals all happily drinking the excellent beers on offer -
- Spiced Vice – Won two medals at the Wheat Beer Challenge 2000
- Dark Star – CAMRA’s champion of 25 years past champions at GBBF
- Golden Gate – a honey flavoured beer
- Hophead – fine and excellent
- Critical Mass – very tasty – only 500 bottles brewed of 2001 vintage
There was a selection of food on offer, also beer take outs which came in very handy for the train journey home!.
Paddy and Roy wandered in and we enjoyed their company and a few pints before going our separate ways for a couple of hours.
The Evening Star comes highly recommended as a basic friendly boozer serving excellent beers.
After some serious browsing in several of Brighton’s excellent second-hand record and book-shops several of us ended up in -
The Basketmakers Arms (12 Gloucester Road)
This is a Gale’s tied house with a nice atmosphere and a young crowd. The Festival Mild went down a treat.
More wandering down the lanes and along the sea front and we all met up in the -
Hand in Hand (33 Upper St James’s Street)
This has got to be one of the most unusual pubs I have ever visited. We had several delicious beers in a space not much bigger than the average living room. In the front window sat two amazing old dears absolutely off their faces on double brandy’s and Guinness giggling like small children. On the ceiling you could not help but notice lots of tasteful Victorian pictures of nude ladies whilst on the walls was the largest collection of ties you will ever see. The beers on offer were -
- Staggering in the Dark (SID) – 5.2% – a lovely porter
- Ye Olde Trout – 4.5%
- Kemp Town – 4.0%
- Brighton Beer – 3.6%
- Dragons Blood – 5.2%
(Boiled eggs available behind the bar for 25 pence if that lights your particular fire.)
Given the size of the pub the range and quality of the beers is amazing.
Suitably lubricated for the trek back to the station we sat off for home via Brighton Pavillion and the chip shop. We made a bit of a detour to visit what The Observer reckoned was one of the top ten chip shops in the whole country. Whilst we all agreed that it was ok we thought that the service wasn’t up to much (they forget Anthonys sausage for Gods sake!) and there weren’t enough chips!
We met up with Mr Baker at the station, amorously clutching a flagon of beer from the Evening Star. Along with some bottles of wine which had been purchased at considerable expense the beer was passed around as we sped back to London.
Those who drank – Paddy, Roy, Anthony, Paul, Mike, Phill, Sarah, Geoff and guests Charlotte and Jane. And not forgetting a special appearance from Tim (French sub-branch).
