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Hi there, I am new to the UK and living in Pease Pottage where we only have one pub. I am keen to find local pubs with a bit of entertainment as there is not much happening here. I also need to make some new friends. Any suggestions. I do have a car and am happy to travel for special occasions, but don't want to go too far from home in West Sussex, or Surrey.
Obviously travelling to the pub by car would put something of a dampener on proceedings, but I notice that you are ~8 miles from a recent national finalist (top4) - Royal Oak, Friday Street, Rusper, here. I don't know about entertainment but well worth a look for good beer (& choice) and friendly local atmosphere.
Further afield you have relatively easy rail connections (from Three Bridges) to Lewes or Brighton (& along south coast) which have some good venues which I, and I'm sure others here, would be happy to suggest if you wish.
One for Paul of Horsham?
http://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/userinfo...=PaulOfHorsham
It would appear so!
More later....
Welcome to Sussex! A very pleasant part of the world with many fine pubs and some of the country's most renowned breweries.
I'll try to give a bit of an introduction and it will help if I try to explain what I'm looking for in a pub, so that you draw the appropriate conclusions from what follows. The main thing is the ale but I'm also looking for a place that's free of trouble, without loud music and enough seats to go round (can't be doing with standing holding a pint with a coat on the floor these days).
With that in mind, I'm not too sure that much in Crawley fits the bill - I seldom visit for a drink. However, the Swan, 15 minutes or so walk from the centre is friendly enough, with good beer these days. You may also want to try the White Hart, as its a Harveys (based not so far away in Lewes) house and the Brewery Shades sounds passable.
Your one pub in Pease Pottage is, of course The Black Swan (formerly the James King, when a King & Barnes house). This suffers from its requirement to serve up the bland brown slop that Hall & Woodhouse seem to think qualifies as beer*.
You can do better, fairly easily in a village pub, such as the Jolly Tanners, only a few miles away from you, the Sussex Oak in Warnham (must say a few words about this one!), the aforementioned Royal Oak near Rusper, White Horse at Maplehurst or the Surrey Oaks, Newdigate. Somewhat further away, Amberley is a thoroughly pretty little village right under the Downs and both the Sportsman & Bridge Inn are well worth a visit (not visited the Black Horse, so can't comment).
Sadly, I can't recommend Horsham for pubs (although I can for beer - keep reading (if you've got this far)). Other towns do far better, most notably Lewes & Brighton, both easily accessible from Three Bridges station. In the latter, the Evening Star is, for me, the highlight, not least for being a Dark Star tied house. Check the PG page for more ideas, including the Greys & Basketmakers. The Bath Arms crammed into the Lanes is a quality place to escape the crowds.
As for Lewes, this is the home of Harveys and you'll find it impossible to avoid the beer. Not to worry, it's good stuff and there's several free houses about as well: I recommend the Gardeners for starters (or finishers, depending on your itinerary!).
Finally, drinking at home is reasonable option too. At least 2 of the nearby breweries will sell direct: Dark Star (one of the best UK breweries by most measures) in Partridge Green and King in Horsham. As if that wasn't enough, we are blessed with the Beer Essentials - draught beer to take away! I'm a regular.
Hope that keeps you busy for a while. Happy pubbing! :drinkup:
* For the record: I'm not a fan!
Oh right - entertainment, too. Plenty of bands about these days, although it seems to me that it's often the pubs that can't get the custom through atmosphere or beer that are putting the bands on. If you do Facebook, try searching for Horsham area live music - that's a bit of a clearing house for what's on round about.
If we're talking Lewes, this may be of some assistance...
http://forums.pubsgalore.co.uk/showt...gless-in-Lewes).
I did a few pubs in Crawley recently but not written them up yet (actually not fully written up Lewes yet either). In summary, for Crawley I did...
The Railway - quite poor mass marlet chain pub, strangely enough near the station - had a couple of decent ales clipped but all were off on my visit!
The Swan - decent little locals boozer - chatty locals, half a dozen interesting ales including local micros.
Jubilee Oak - typical does what it says on tin 'Spoons
Goffs Manor - a trek but nice old Hall & Woodhouse pub/restaurant (useless bit of info - it used to be the home of Peter Vaughan who played Harry Grout in Porridge!). Unlike PoH I am quite partial to a good Pickled Partridge or Lemony Cricket!).
Half Moon - Near the football ground - more of a Sports bar - not worth the trek.
Brewery Shades - Nice old building - a bit too food orientated but a couple of good Dark Star beers on top of a couple of Greene Kings.
White Hart - Decent 2 bar Harveys pub - worth a look.
Old Punch Bowl - Greene King - 15th century building - good value meals. Interior suffers from a large modern extention but still has a couple of cosy original rooms at the front.
Hope that's of use.