Many years ago when I worked in the Horsham area I got to appreciate the brews of King & Barnes. Now that they are no more, I understand that there are two brewers in Horsham run by employees of the old company. I know that there are good people from that area who subscribe to this Forum so my question to you is: Do any of the pubs in the Horsham - Crawley area serve their produce and more important is it any good?
Got something to say or just want fewer pesky ads? Join us... 😊
OT Northern (Sussex) Beer
- Thread starter Boys 9d
- Start date
dougdeep
New member
Kings do some good beers, both draught and bottled. Red River is a nice brew. The other brewers in Horsham are pretty good too.
Alex Alex Dawson oo! oo!
Primary data is fact
There's no former K&B 'King' involved at Kings since Bill King left a while back.
Bill has recently started up a new brewery (Firebird) in Rudgwick. I wasn't able to get to the opening bash last month and haven't tasted any of the products yet 'cos I've been in hospital over recent weeks. You could give the brewery a call to see where their beer's are available.
http://aahorsham.co.uk/content/firebird
Bill has recently started up a new brewery (Firebird) in Rudgwick. I wasn't able to get to the opening bash last month and haven't tasted any of the products yet 'cos I've been in hospital over recent weeks. You could give the brewery a call to see where their beer's are available.
http://aahorsham.co.uk/content/firebird
The Birdman
New member
The Sussex Beer that was a great pint the company brewed in Horsham has been ruined by the company that took them over and now brew it outside the county and taste awful .
The Birdman
New member
Did anyone do the king and Barnes passport trail.
Superphil
Dismember
There is also the Hepworth brewery in Horsham too, their Iron Horse is pretty good, generally you'll not go wrong with any of theirs IMO, even their Blonde organic lager is a nice drop.
My local has had Firebird on, and it's not too shabby. Our landlord is an old mucker of Bill Kings so we have always had a good and regular selection of his beers over the years.
Almost did it once, only had 2 or 3 to go but I think I just lost interest. We were at the (Onslow Arms) pub in Loxwood when the landlord refused to stamp our drivers passport becasue she only wanted half a shandy, due to the fact she was driving. We used to take it in turns to drive, and never before had a landlord refused, even if the driver was on soft drinks. The guys I used to do it with had done it 2 or 3 or 4 times, you got a different colour commemorative jumper I think each time you completed it. I think my favourite was the Sir Roger Titchborn, which has reopened recently after many years of being closed.
My local has had Firebird on, and it's not too shabby. Our landlord is an old mucker of Bill Kings so we have always had a good and regular selection of his beers over the years.
Almost did it once, only had 2 or 3 to go but I think I just lost interest. We were at the (Onslow Arms) pub in Loxwood when the landlord refused to stamp our drivers passport becasue she only wanted half a shandy, due to the fact she was driving. We used to take it in turns to drive, and never before had a landlord refused, even if the driver was on soft drinks. The guys I used to do it with had done it 2 or 3 or 4 times, you got a different colour commemorative jumper I think each time you completed it. I think my favourite was the Sir Roger Titchborn, which has reopened recently after many years of being closed.
dougdeep
New member
Weltons is worth a try. Better than Hepworths in my opinion. http://weltonsbeer.co.uk/
Cowfold Seagull
Fan of the 17 bus
Yes indeed, Hall & Woodhouse brew 'Sussex' down in Dorset now, and it tastes completely and utterly different to the original King & Barnes version l knew and loved.
Horsham is very well blessed with brewers. In the town itself we have WJ King, Weltons & Hepworths plus as mentioned Bill King's new venture Firebird at Rudgiwck.
We could also lay claim to Dark Star in the Horsham District (in Partridge Green)
Not tried Firebird yet but the others are well worth a try.
The opnly pub I can think of that has in the past had one or other of these on is The Black Jug, although we do have a fine ale shop
http://www.thebeeressentials.co.uk/
We could also lay claim to Dark Star in the Horsham District (in Partridge Green)
Not tried Firebird yet but the others are well worth a try.
The opnly pub I can think of that has in the past had one or other of these on is The Black Jug, although we do have a fine ale shop
http://www.thebeeressentials.co.uk/
Horsham is spoilt,
Kings is a great brewery try the brewery trip although they charge the last time I went we had 3 hours of non stop drinking. The Festive is close to the old K&B version and they are now trying out new types of beer, the new brewers assistant was featured in the national press recently Guardian I think..
Weltons have a great variety of brews but not sure of any pubs serving their stuff.
Hepworths seem to be a bit more main stream but the blonde does appeal to the lager drinkers
Also got Kissingate brewery in Lower Beeding which has won many awards.
Plus there's beer essentials and Dark Star.
As to pubs I wouldn't say there is a particular pub that stocks any of the local brewery on a regular basis but a lot of the local pubs do stock local beers even though they vary,even South Lodge stocks Hepworths.
Try the Sussex Oak in Warnham, the Lamb at Lambs Green or the Malt Shovel in Horsham.
West Hoathly Seagull
Honorary Ruffian
I think it was brewed at the Gribble in Oving for a while - presumably that arrangement has now stopped. Yes, K&B brewed some fine beers - am I right in thinking that their Sussex was somewhat drier and hoppier than Harveys' version? I seem to remember that their range was rather smaller than Harveys, but equally impressive. I think there was a big family battle, where one of the Kings was willing to accept Shepherd Neame's bid (they had promised to keep brewing in Horsham - Shep's is one of my favourite non-Sussex brews by the way; in form Master Brew is a cracking pint), but the other wanted to hold out for more, which Hall and Woodhouse offered, but at the cost of closing the brewery.
My biggest beef with Hall and Woodhouse, though, is that they have ruined a number of decent, ordinary, everyday pubs, which served good beer and reasonably good food, which were useful places to go if you didn't fancy cooking, by trying to turn them into fancy food pubs. One example is the Gardeners' Arms at Ardingly, which used to get a roaring trade from the antiques dealers at the fairs at the Ardingly Showground. A friend of ours runs a B & B up the road and used to recommend her guests to go there; now she feels she can't - antiques dealers don't want something supposedly French at £15 a throw, they want good pub food for around a tenner or so. Another example is the Snowdrop at Lindfield. Sure, these places have got to earn a living, which I know is hard in today's climate, but other than on a Monday night, the Gardener's was usually packed and you often had to wait for a table.