please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
The Rainbow was our penultimate stop in Chichester on Christmas Eve. It's on a road heading out of the city. But I didn't find it particularly welcoming and despite it being Christmas Eve, with many pubs being quite busy, this one was quiet. Ales were Bowman Yum & Downlands Best & Root Thirteen Pale Ale.
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Another Chichester pub that was recommended that I pop in by the local CAMRA branch member I ran into earlier in the weekend. The Rainbow was for some years known as the Happy Medium, but has recently reopened after a period of closure as a Free House under its original Victorian name, and the new landlord is trying to make a go focussing on selling a changing range of Ales.
In style it is a suburban one bar local with a single part wood-panelled L-shaped bar with a coal fire at one end with comfortable seating and a pool table and conservatory at the other.
There isn’t an extensive food menu but homemade bar snacks in the form of burgers or Scottish pies with or without chips are available until 7pm each day and live acoustic music sessions are held on Friday evenings.
On the Beer front there are three ale pumps at the near end of the bar with Dark Star Hop Head as a regular beer and at least one of the others dispensing a local brewery beer. For my visit Adnams Bitter and Longman Brewery Copper Hop were alongside the HopHead. Between us we tried all three and they were all in good condition.
It’s always good to see a pub reopen and I really wish this one well and hope it finds a local following. Definitely worth doing as a double with the nearby Bell Inn if you find yourself north of the ring road.
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This place has reopened, back as The Rainbow. A free house, I expect. That is good news, and worthy of your support.
It's a new incarnation and not the Thai-run venue that it was last year.
Simple place: £3/pint for all ales I think so noticeably cheap for Chichester. Around 2 or 3 local ales, in reasonable condition.
Slightly strange atmosphere: felt like a working mens club. Not a lot of females or couples or yoofs. Friendly enough but not somewhere to linger unless you are in the locals crowd. Live music on some nights, so it seems.
Bar snacks only. No proper food: missing a trick there since there is plenty of space for dining and plenty of punters that will pay for half-decent food.
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Looks closed to me
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New landlords - very reasonably priced food and a warm welcome.
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Quiet. unusual shape (L with an big empty rear glass roofed area), but discreet and a good pint.
anonymous - 8 Apr 2007 00:19 |
Very friendly landlord and wife. Good locals pub that does nice beer but no food.
Phmoo - 12 Nov 2006 15:01 |
Quite a quiet pub, very friendly staff and a great place to get a game of pool. A good place for a quiet chin-wag with friends. They also have a tv for the big sports events, although last time I visited there was a documentary about stuffing animals on which added a slightly surreal air to the evening!
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