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Worst Pub in Brighton and Hove.







Sam-

New member
Feb 20, 2012
772
The William the fourth. Maybe I caught it on a bad night, but poor service, expensive and hasn't been redecorated since 1840. Considering the abundance of competition around there its shocking.
 


Nibble

New member
Jan 3, 2007
19,238
Have the staff's attitudes improved at the Open House at all? Not been there for a couple of years but the staff used to just raise their eyes up when you walked in and go back to their texting. Genuinely rude staff in that place which is a shame as it's a lovely boozer.
 


Dover

Home at Last.
Oct 5, 2003
4,474
Brighton, United Kingdom
Have the staff's attitudes improved at the Open House at all? Not been there for a couple of years but the staff used to just raise their eyes up when you walked in and go back to their texting. Genuinely rude staff in that place which is a shame as it's a lovely boozer.

Nibble. Spot on again. I used to hate The Railway over the bridge. That had the same style of bar staff too.

Southover and others. That must be The Cobden, on refection. Actually, with the right people in there it's not too bad.
 


Puppet Master

non sequitur
Aug 14, 2012
4,056
Yates, a thousand times Yates. If Jeremy Kyle doesn't recruit his studio guests from an average Friday in there, he's missing a trick.
 




fataddick

Well-known member
Feb 6, 2004
1,602
The seaside.
Have the staff's attitudes improved at the Open House at all? Not been there for a couple of years but the staff used to just raise their eyes up when you walked in and go back to their texting. Genuinely rude staff in that place which is a shame as it's a lovely boozer.

The Open House is vile. Beer garden full of children running amok and the worst bar staff in Brighton. The fact that it's the headquarters of zel/drinkinbrighton/whatever (their offices are above the pub) sums up everything you need to know about that hideous pub group.

The worst pubs in Brighton are The Crown, Zone, Bat & Ball, Northern Tavern, Chequers, Railway Bell, Pond, Golden Cannon and all of West Street. Don't know Hove well enough to comment. Further afield Shoreham is home to some right shitholes (Buckingham, Toad, the one just North of the station, etc) and probably second only to Crawley and Newhaven in Sussex for percentage of pubs being shit. Lowest shit pub percentage has to be Lewes, with Brighton not all that far behind.
 


vegster

Sanity Clause
May 5, 2008
28,272
The first time I went to The Geese it was to meet some friends who had just got engaged. When I entered it looked a bit dodgy with a few no hopers slouched about close to unconsciousness. I waited at the bar for some time to get served before one of a group of people got up and staggered to the bar and started pouring a lager ! I was shocked until she said " sorry love, what would you like ? " she was actually working behind the bar ! Later another girl arrived to take over which was great as the other girl was pretty wasted by now. So, had a few drinks and then there was a shout from behind the bar " Right everyone, I have just found this outside the ladies toilets " she held up a small plastic bag containing some white powder. I thought she was going to go ballistic and threaten to call the cops. But she said, as close as I can recall, " if no one claims this in 5 minutes, I'm having it ! "

I've not been back.
 


Nibble

New member
Jan 3, 2007
19,238
The first time I went to The Geese it was to meet some friends who had just got engaged. When I entered it looked a bit dodgy with a few no hopers slouched about close to unconsciousness. I waited at the bar for some time to get served before one of a group of people got up and staggered to the bar and started pouring a lager ! I was shocked until she said " sorry love, what would you like ? " she was actually working behind the bar ! Later another girl arrived to take over which was great as the other girl was pretty wasted by now. So, had a few drinks and then there was a shout from behind the bar " Right everyone, I have just found this outside the ladies toilets " she held up a small plastic bag containing some white powder. I thought she was going to go ballistic and threaten to call the cops. But she said, as close as I can recall, " if no one claims this in 5 minutes, I'm having it ! "

I've not been back.

That boozer has had a few different personalities, ranging from rather decent to the downright shocking. I think I went in there when that lot were running it.
About 6 or 7 years ago it was rum by a right mob of people you didn't want near you. All those pubs up Southover, save for the Greys and the Charles Napier have had their fare share of nightmare landlords.

The problem seems to be with the landlords come their dodgy mates and take over the pub. They seem to migrate up and down Southover and across to the Constant Service, they seem to find the boozer where the landlord tolerates coke and god knows what else and stay there until things change and they move on. A grim scene up Southover these days.
 




fataddick

Well-known member
Feb 6, 2004
1,602
The seaside.
Have the staff's attitudes improved at the Open House at all? Not been there for a couple of years but the staff used to just raise their eyes up when you walked in and go back to their texting. Genuinely rude staff in that place which is a shame as it's a lovely boozer.

The Open House is vile. Beer garden full of children running amok and the worst bar staff in Brighton. The fact that it's the headquarters of zel/drinkinbrighton/whatever (their offices are above the pub) sums up everything you need to know about that hideous pub group.

The worst pubs in Brighton are The Crown, Zone, Bat & Ball, Northern Tavern, Chequers, Railway Bell, Pond, Golden Cannon and all of West Street. Don't know Hove well enough to comment. Further afield Shoreham is home to some right shitholes (Buckingham, Toad, the one just North of the station, etc) and probably second only to Crawley and Newhaven in Sussex for percentage of pubs being shit. Lowest shit pub percentage has to be Lewes, with Brighton not all that far behind.
 








BensGrandad

New member
Jul 13, 2003
72,015
Haywards Heath
Evening Star, just for the rudeness of certain bar staff...

If not for that it must certainly rate as one of the dirtiest. I visited it once and was surprised how filthy it was generally and how badly scratched and dirty the glasses were as my wife said it desperately needed a deep clean throughout.
 




Guinness Boy

Tofu eating wokerati
Helpful Moderator
NSC Patron
Jul 23, 2003
37,339
Up and Coming Sunny Portslade
Hellfire you are good at this, it became my local for a while and it really isn't a nice place. Really pretensious, a certain ex Fast Show cast memeber is normally in there sounding off about something or other and he's a deeply unlikeable man.

Ha! Many years ago we lived near the Lion and Lobster and guess who we nearly ran over one afternoon as he sought attention in the middle of the road outside said establishment. So that's two of Nibble's no-nos he frequents / frequented.

The Gardeners in Portslade was not just the worst pub in the city but possibly the world. I'm proud to say I drunk there several times but only in a "I survived it" kind of way. Now thankfully knocked down. The Bevendean took some beating back in the day too.
 




algie

The moaning of life
Jan 8, 2006
14,713
In rehab
No bad pub in Brighton /Hove could be more intimidating or scary then the Atlantic in Brixton.
 




MissGull

New member
Apr 1, 2013
1,994
I'm amazed only one person fleetingly mentioned The Seafield on New Church Road, walked in once and like a scene out of a Western, everybody stopped drinking stared at me and my mate which led to us walking straight back out. I thought I was the only one so I asked other people and similar stories were passed down.

Surprised The Alibi has been suggested on here, decent little boozer on a sunny day and has Stowford Press, 'nuff said.

I'm not sure if the Blind Busker counts as a pub but it has to be the most overrated place in Hove, I can't believe there aren't more 'sporty' places that serve decent grub and beer in Hove, especially along the main drag into Brighton.

Had the Seafield effect in the Hikers Rest at the bottom of Coldean Lane. Was going to a BBQ in the area and stopped in on the way.
 






Guinness Boy

Tofu eating wokerati
Helpful Moderator
NSC Patron
Jul 23, 2003
37,339
Up and Coming Sunny Portslade
Yes yes yes the flipping seafield I'd forgotten that place. Had a pint at a ledge opposite the bar and a local came and asked if I was a copper! No I am not a copper but finished my beer and walked out.

I also lived on Seafield Road for a short while. We avoided this place like the plague. A couple of years later having moved out to Portslade I was on a bus in to town when a couple of likely looking old geezers got on. From their conversation one was going to spend all Sunday afternoon in the Seafield. "It's like a home for retired criminals" he boasted. "What do you mean retired?" replied his mate.
 


Dick Head

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Jan 3, 2010
13,890
Quaxxann
Had the Seafield effect in the Hikers Rest at the bottom of Coldean Lane. Was going to a BBQ in the area and stopped in on the way.

Went in the Hiker's Rest with the missus once. Started out frightening and ended up excellent.
 


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