I didn't actually walk these pubs in this order, but this is more of an order to walk, I'll explain as I go on. 😉 My mate Paul and I decided to have a short pub crawl around St Leonards as his wife was away for the day visiting her daughter and grandchildren, we visited 3 of these pubs, one twice, as one was closed that day. So, here I am starting off with the Grade II Listed, very nearly 200 years old, Horse & Groom, 4 Mercatoria TN38 0EB (facebook), with 4 handpumps, the one regular ale being the virtually ubiquitous Harvey's Sussex Best (website).
I drank 2 ales from the reasonably local (East Sussex), and certainly improving, Lakedown Brewing Co (website). First, their 4.5% English IPA Eddy, a light amber colour, brewed with English hops, although not divulged which hops are used. Not quite as dark or as bitter as a traditional IPA, but easy to drink, and I had a tasty cheese and red onion bap/sandwich too.
Then I went for a more interesting 4.8% American Stout Marquee, apparently brewed with Centennial (hopslist) and Golding (hopslist) hops. I'll write what I noted at the time first, "Pretty damn good, a wee bit fruity, hint of coffee in the taste with a dry finish" and less chocolate than I expected. The citrus fruitiness coming, presumably, from the Centennial hops, and the darker fruit flavours from the malt and Goldings. A 'light' stout and I liked it! 😁
Come out of the pub, walk down Norman Road a short distance and turn left and the next port of call is slightly newer (1830s) The Nags Head, 8-9 Gensing Road TN38 0ER (facebook) with 3-5 ales available, again including Harvey's Sussex Best as a regular I believe, where we drank the ale in the photograph below! Oh yes, and apparently Robert Croker, aka Robert Noonan, aka Robert Tressell who wrote The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists (Guardian), used to drink here when he lived nearby in London Road in the early 20th century. ✊
So we went for this ale from the East Anglian brewery Adnams (website), their Citrus Pale Ale Ghost Ship (4.5%). This is a pale sharp refreshing ale, brewed with Citra hops (hopslist), consequently, as you would expect, it has a subtle citrus flavour and a nice refreshing dry bitter finish, and, as I've said before, in my opinion Adnams best ale. 👍
Come out and return to Norman Road and turn left, carry on down and cross London Road, then turn left up Western Road just before you reach Warrior Square Gardens. Up on the left is the pub we missed out on (just me visiting a few days ago this time), because it isn't open on Mondays and Tuesdays, when it can be booked by local charities and community groups. The Prince of Wales, 15 Western Road TN37 6DG (website) is a similar age building to the others, but was a bakers before becoming a beer shop called the Coachmaker's Arms in the early 1850s (bsls) then being licensed as The Prince of Wales from 1855.
If you've used my link to the pub's website page you'll realise that it was re-opened earlier this year, after being closed for 2 years, by the Hastings Project (website), a "community interest company which brews beer to raise money for local charitable and community projects." Hastings Project was set up by Ed (who I met and had an interesting chat with) and Robbie, who have been brewing as a 'cuckoo brewery' here and there. Tending the bar was a welcoming young woman called Adrien who patiently answered my numerous questions, and who has experience working with the public, but has only worked in licensed premises the last few months, cheers!
Here, I drank a couple of pints of Scottish brewery Fyne Ales (website) Jarl (3.8%), indeed Fyne Ales are one of the breweries whose ales I am never disappointed with, and on my older blog 12 years ago, I placed Jarl as my 'champion' session bitter (blog). If you don't want to look back at it, here is how I describe it: "a crackin' dry, pale golden and hoppy ale, with plenty of citrus flavours, nice and bitter, and very refreshing" and brewed with Citra hops, nowt's changed!
The pub also has a good selection of bottled beers, including Belgian beers, and a number of crafty keg brews of their own, well worth the visit. 👍
The first and last place we visited was The Royal, 1 St John's Road TN37 6HP (website), which can be reached by coming out of the Prince of Wales and turning left to head up Western Road, and it's on the left on the corner at the top, opposite St Leonards Warrior Square railway station, so if you come by train, you can start here! 😉 When first built and licensed in 1876 this was called the Railway Hotel, then Campbell's Hotel (the name of the licensee), changing its name to the Royal Hotel after it was taken over by George Veness in 1884, closing briefly in 2019 it reopened later that year as The Royal.
