Craft Fans Archives • Brighton Beer Blog

The Patch Lewes

Don't be fooled by the humble cafe exterior, it belies a trove of global beer variety

19–21 Market Street
Lewes
BN7 2NB

01273 477042

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The Patch Lewes

A humble café offering a staggering ten rotated keg lines

The Patch hides its beery bounty very well. It’s an unassuming place that from the outside appears to be a pokey café, in an old building, on one of Lewes’s narrow side roads.

But step over the threshold and before your eyes is a wall of ten tap lines and a small fridge stocked with yet more wonderful brews. The options are incredible, with local, UK-wide and worldwide options presented together for you to choose from.

The brews are regularly rotated to keep things exciting for beer explorers, but expect to find a combination that might include Sussex milk stouts, reputable pale ales, classic Belgian beers and never-before-heard-of regional European lagers, all on one wall, all available to try before you buy. The Patch’s Facebook posts are good at keeping you updated on new arrivals.

The venue itself is simply decorated – lots of white and green, and a collection of basic wooden furniture. At the front, stools and a café-style window bar allow you to perch and peer out; or turn left for a mish-mash of booths, tables and chairs, creatively jammed into the long but narrow space. There’s a small yard out back that again seemed basic, but we hope they might do more with it over time.

The Patch is humble, and a little plain – and the fairly priced beers perhaps reflect that – but looks aside, you just cannot beat this place for beer variety in Lewes!

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Haus On The Hill Brighton

58 Southover Street
Brighton
BN2 9UF

01273 601 419

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Haus On The Hill Brighton

A classic but contemporary 2 storey pub run by Brighton Bier

Upon entering this wide and wood clad space you immediately meet the bar with it’s huge array of options that fill the full width of the bar and continue around the corners, so we’ll start there.

Being a Brighton Bier run establishment there’s an excellent array of 5 cask ales and, for a tucked away local, a jaw dropping 15+ taps. Much of these are produced not far away at the marina by the Brighton based brewer, but there’s plenty of other great local options as well as a Bavarian guest named Rothaus, a small brewery in Southern Germany that Brighton Bier love so much they’ve installed their big branded tap serving their Pilsner and Wiess beers.

The decor is unfussy and warm touches of modern colour to keep things contemporary, but enough retained classic pub charm. If you don’t want to mingle around the bar then to it’s right there is a side room and elevated seating space that feels a little bit more away from the action if you want your own corner.

Through the main bar there’s a rear yard with some wooden booths which provided shelter in bad weather, whereas upstairs you’ll find another decked seating area that catches the sun and a whole other bright indoor seating space as well.

With a stonkingly good beer selection, a pub as nice as this is well worth scaling any hill.

haus on the hill brighton pub hanover outside corner view

haus on the hill brighton pub hanover bar and taps

haus on the hill brighton pub hanover front bar

haus on the hill brighton pub hanover side room seating

haus on the hill brighton pub hanover upstairs room seating

haus on the hill brighton pub hanover outside booth seating

The Brunswick Hove

Great beer choice, a huge sunny garden, three storeys of rooms and a great live music venue combine to make this a top destination

1 Holland Road
Hove
BN3 1JF

01273 733984

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The Brunswick Hove

A communal, independent pub and venue with a cracking beer list

Entering the dark wooden interior of The Brunswick Hove is a very comforting feeling. Rain or shine it’s a communcal pub that’s a sanctuary for settling in and relaxing with friends.

The wide bar lies in front of you beyond some high seating and left and right the booths and bench seats are usually filled with lots of lively locals and chatty groups.

You might not realise if you were just passing through but below you is a fantastic cellar space for parties and music events, and above you is another storey with 3 colour coded rooms, all available for private hire. Anyone who lives here long enough has been to a birthday party or event here.

If that wasn’t enough then to the right beyond a retractable wall is a fantastic and understated music venue, often decked out with tables and candles, which hosts an incredible variety of live music, comedy and other regular events. The event calendar is curated by part of Brighton’s own musical furniture, Jacko Hooper so quality can be relied upon.

Top that off with a huge decked sun-trap garden space and you have a winning formula for this part of town.

The beer range on the bar is exceptional with 9 craft taps and 4 pumps hosting anything from standard pales and bests, to niche stouts and sours, with local brewers usually always represented. They can come at wallet stinging tap-bar prices, but it’s a price worth paying for an exciting beer range in an independent pub.

A selection of pub snack and burgers are available with roasts served on Sunday.

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The World’s End Brighton

If the end is nigh, there's more than enough fun and games here to forget your woes

60-61 London Road
Brighton
BN1 4JE

01273 692311

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The World’s End Brighton

A youthfully spirited pub and a fun place to see in an apocalypse or two

You wont miss the black-painted exterior of The World’s End, complete with an angry Kraken rum octopus flailing its tentacles across the front facade.

Inside is open-plan and spacious, perfect for larger groups with canteen-style tables and chairs to right and long benches to the left. The atmosphere has a great buzz and we’ve noticed they’re not shy about turning the volume on the music.
The tables out front are popular at night and there’s a small covered decking space to the rear.

The bar has a host of craft beers lined up taproom style and rotated regularly, but there’s another side to the World’s End Brighton that adds to the fun and games.

The green booths opposite the bar are VR suites run by IPG. A choice of worlds are available to blast, shoot and fly in, all within in safe reach of a pint.

Upstairs are some more traditional arcade games and a fairground-style remote control race track. If that’s not enough, on Tuesdays Gaming Retro-bution set-up a library of retro games machines, and there’s a Monday pub quiz.

Food is provided by Wolfsmouth burger kitchen and we have been quite satisfied with them on past visits.

the worlds end pub london road brighton wide angle inside seating

the worlds end pub london road brighton virtual reality booths pinball machine and air hockey table

the worlds end pub london road brighton inside bar and tap menu

the worlds end pub london road brighton upstairs games area

the worlds end pub london road brighton people using race track

the worlds end pub london road brighton outside back garden smoking area

the worlds end pub london road brighton gaming retro bution

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The Exchange Hove

Wander the residential streets by Goldstone Villas and you can't miss this modern pub

8 Goldstone Street
Hove
BN3 3RL

01273 821677

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The Exchange, Hove

A modern option in Hove’s residential backstreets

The decor of The Exchange in Hove is a combination of exposed brick and wacky touches, and there’s ample space with tables and seating set out open plan. Smokers have a small beer garden and a row of neon picnic tables out front.

A log fire is situated to the right of the bar, while to the left is a stage area for live music. There are two big screens round a corner where live sport is regularly shown.

There are quite a few lagers on offer, and being a Laine Brew Co establishment there’s a varied selection of Laine Brew Co pales, and cask ales, as well as some niche guest options such as seasonal ales and sours.

The kitchen is outsourced to Dirty Shack, which offer a classic selection of burgers and wings, advertised as ‘Cajun cuisine’, and a few vegetarian dishes.

Dog friendly and wheelchair accessible, The Exchange is a great example of a local pub well modernised.