please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
An excellent friendly pub where the Dark Star Hophead was in good condition and £3 a pint. We ate and the food was reasonable value and enjoyable. Highly recommended and deserves a score way above its current 5.1
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Dark Star Hophead in good condition and still £3 a pint. Food was good and not bad value
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Country pub near the foot of the south downs, so handy for walkers and cyclists. 5 ales on at sensible prices: £3 a pint in November 2014 for Hophead (in great condition). One of those is a guest ale: Betty Stoggs when I visited (little bit sour, not such good condition).
Anyway, basically good for ales and quite cosy inside with an open fire and popular with the locals. Food was straight forwards but tasty and large portions, although hapily this place is very much a pub and not a restaurant.
I agree with the comments about service below; the younger ladies serving were efficient and polite but the landlady and the SA fella were a bit less welcoming. Still, it didn't really detract and I'd say this place is worth a visit if you are in the area.
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Excellent range of beers including Hophead at £3 a pint - so what's not to like ?, Youngs Bitter, and at least 2 others - all well-kept.
Happy mix of locals and visitors. Good food selection, lovely garden, accommodation is reportedly good. Closed Sunday evenings.
Quirky but mainly very pleasant bar staff.
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A loud South African was playing the role of landlord/alpha male/bar comedian when I dropped in a couple of weeks ago. He was happy to let the overworked barmaid (age: maybe 18?) do all the heavy lifting while he chewed the fat with some red-faced locals. However, I can forgive a lot for a decent pint of Hophead...
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Pleasant enough village-local with decent beers on offer. Summer Lightning and Hophead were well-kept, but something was lacking with the atmosphere of the place. It's close to walking territory though and perfectly placed for a swift drink.
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Popped in for a quick pre-luncheon pint a couple of Sundays back whilst travelling home through the charming West Sussex downlands, thanks as ever to the trusty Good Beer Guide which pointed us in this direction.
There is a certain countryness and gentility to the pub upon entering its cottagey frontage, although once indoors it reveals itself to be quite cosmopolitan in its customer base, and certainly as much of a foodie haunt as a beer-pub - indeed certainly more the former on a busy Sunday. Observations suggested the pub was popular with family and friendship groups, younger and older. Mostly appeared to be enjoying what looked to be a decently-priced and broad menu (only had brekkie at 11:30 so at 2 we still weren't on for more grub - otherwise we might have partaken).
Ales were kept nicely (although by the high standards of this area the range was not as inspiring as it might be), and service to us was found to be good, although I can see how perhaps some have found it slow or flustered, as clearly despite staff working flat out it was busy and a challenge to keep up with every punter who wanted drinks, as well as all those drawing up to settle their food bills.
A pleasant and cosy establishment which seemed friendly enough, and I would consider returning, although maybe on a less-demanding shift. Perhaps a victim of its own success?
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the pub has decent beer and is quite pretty. However, the service is dreadful with the landlady being particuarly rude, unfriendly and unhelpful. I think that you will find much better atmosphere and service elsewhere.
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After my wife had booked a meal for five in celebration of my daughters 21st we decided to join our son in the above establishment. After reading some of the negative reports I was a bit apprehensive about going but with open mind we went.
What a very enjoyable evening we had, the two young ladys serving were excellent, polite and nothing too much trouble, they were even kind enough to put candles (which we forgot) on the cake we had brought a long to celebrate. The food was excellent and personally I had the half lamb shoulder and swear it was the whole shoulder it was so large. Everyone enjoyed their food. And as a real ale man, the beer was spot on with a good selection. A place well worth visiting if you offspring are at the University, as our son is. General atmosphere in the restaurant was pleasant and it was busy the whole evening. I cannot speak of the bar as we were tucked away in the corner of the restaurant for the whole evening. But when we are down Chichester again a visit is almost certainly on the cards if not just to taste the other beers I did not have.
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Enjoyed a long Sunday lunchtime session among friendly locals and bar staff.
Free piping leftover hot roast spuds accompanied by Yorkshire Pudding was very welcome. No complaints at all and i ride - a bike !
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After an unpleasant encounter in this pub, where one of the locals (a good mate of the landlord) threatened me with violence and a couple of the others stood about bayng for blood, I vowed never to set foot in the place again.
There are some very odd people who use it, as the poster below has mentioned. I too have seen the barefooted bloke, and on one occasion he barged me, spilling my drink, and refused either to apologise or to replace the drink he had spilt. Others are chilly, snobbish, arrogant and rude.
It's overpriced and unjustifiably pretentious. If I could give it a negative rating I most certainly would.
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Me and some dear friends stayed at the Horse and Groom one evening, after attending the racing at Goodwood. Having had a pleasant enough day, and a few winners, we decided to go back to the Horse & Groom directly so as to sample the decent Ales on tap, and what we perceived would be the warm atmosphere of a good local, which we had checked into some 5 hours earlier.
Alas, we were somewhat wrong. Our entrance into the pub immediately drew negative comment (we were dressed in smart attire, having been racing), as we were likened to the Mormons. I don't even think the Mormons were a good band. Two of my friends were made to feel uncomfortable enough to immediately go and change. There was a bizarre local man who walked around the pub in bare feet, bemoaning the quality of his marrow crop from last Autumn and another incomprehensible old chap who had the worst-fitting pair of false teeth I have ever been startled by.
The young barmaid serving there seemed to be more occupied with the arrangement and viewability of her cleavage than of providing a friendly service. At the end of the night, I kindly offered her a drink, which she sharply declined. When I asked if she would like to just carry the tip over for another night, she said "Look, the sooner I have finished serving you the quicker I can go home".
In the morning, at Breakfast, we were greeted with chilled orange juice and an equally chilled reception. One of my friends found a hair in his breakfast, which was maybe a light escape, considering what we feared we may have found in our wares on that morning. We passed a lovely B&B called the Royal Oak no so far away, and I say we are more likely to stay here in future.
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Nice cheap pint of Hophead and fine selection of cheese. However the rudest bar staff I have ever come across. Took an instant disliking to us and could not wait for us to leave (even tho' we were staying in their B&B!). Will not be frequenting this hostile public house again.
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'best pint (and value) of Hophead for miles. A smile would not go amiss - this is a 'public service' after all !
Nice touch on Sunday afternoons when the left-over (if any) roast spuds and Yorkshire pud get handed around.
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Would not recommend. Owners were very unfriendly and not accomodating at all. They didn't even smile or offer advice, rather they seemed bothered. My husband and I stayed in their B&B as well and it was no more than a standard motel room, and had no character or charm of a B&B.
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I've only been in this pub once, very pretentious and terrifyingly overpriced. To be fair though, good ale and food.
Biker - 11 Oct 2007 06:07 |
Stopped off for a midweek lunch between appointments and this place is obviously a haunt for the local hoi poloy.
A good choice of beers on offer, I had a Harveys but not one I recognise (or remember) along with a baguette and salad. Possibly a little on the high side price wise but the beer was not expensive.
Waitresses / Bar staff were ok not over friendly but also a little indifferent except for the guy who was very cheerful.
Would definitely go again
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We went there for a meal and the food was nice, nothing special. However, it was very overpriced and the waitresses weren't friendly.
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Popped into this gem of a pub after reading about in 2007 Good Beer Guide. Sampled both the Dark Star Hophead and Hopback Summer Lightning - both absolutely excellent, and with Hophead at just �2.10 a pint, an absolute bargain.
Food looked marvellous and apparently the accommodation is great too.
Very friendly staff and customers alike.
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Usually serves an excellent pint of Youngs Bitter, and Hopback Summer Lightning. 'worth visiting around 3pm on Sundays for the left-over roast spuds and Yorkshire pudding !
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small two roomed village pub in a rather boring village, four decent real ales on tap, has a seperate restaurant at the rear serving very good looking food but a bit too expensive unless having a special occasion meal. all in all well worth a visit as dark star hophead was perfect
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