Oldest Pub in Hastings

I've been writing a separate blog recently about Hastings and its environs, having been challenged to work out which pub is the oldest local pub, it hasn't been as easy as I thought it would be! I shall add the odd article here, certainly this one, following my visiting The Bull Inn (website) in Bexhill Road. 

Very soon after passing the sign welcoming you to Hastings & St Leonards you reach The Bull Inn, 530 Bexhill Road, Hastings, East Sussex TN38 8AY (website). Some may argue this is really in Bexhill, but The Bull falls within Hastings Borough Council's boundary and is licensed by Hastings, and is on the Hastings' side of this sign... 

The main building, bar area and kitchen of The Bull Inn is Grade II listed, built in the late 18th century, with an early 19th century extension added to the eastern side, ie to the right as you look at my photograph of the pub. According to licensing records, this building was first licensed to James Kenward in 1795, though records show a license for the pub in 1622, obviously for an earlier building.  

A couple of hundred years ago, the sea came up much closer to the pub and the port of Bulverhythe, but nothing now remains of that port except the ruins of the Church of St. Mary, which is virtually in the back garden of the only other older building in the area, The Bull Inn. There is evidence to suggest that stone used in the construction of the pub is very likely to have come from the ruins of the church; church cornerstones, windowsills and window tracery are all in evidence, and much old stone work can be seen at the rear of the building. 

Stories of tunnels from the pub and smuggers abound and, almost certainly, the earlier Bull Inn played host to the investigators of the wreck of the Amsterdam, the Dutch East Indiaman that was beached the other side of the railway bridge (which was built much later of course) in 1749, and which can still be seen when the tide is out, notably at Spring and Autumn tides. Though the last time I walked out to it, the deck was virtually full of silt and sand (see below). 

The Shepherd Neame website mentions this premise too, and says that "in the eastern part of the old pub, John Keats sat and did his writing while looking out to sea. Part of the pub was used as a court house and in the basement under the bar were the cells where condemned prisoners were held before hanging at Gallows Hill." 

You can take it from this that The Bull is a Shepherd Neame pub, though with an interesting alternative more local ownership and brewery linkage over the years. Indeed, Thomas Breeds bought The Bull Inn a few years before establishing the Hastings Brewery in 1828; The Bull becoming one of the first pubs to trade under the Breeds’ name, as was the Duke of Wellington in the High Street, Hastings. 

The Bull was later sold to George Beer and Rigden of Faversham in 1931, then Beer and Rigden was taken over by Fremlins of Maidstone in 1949. In 1967 Fremlins became part of the Whitbread group before Lord Young's Beer Orders from 1989 restricted the number of tied pubs that could be owned by individual breweries to 2,000. Shepherd Neame bought up many of the Whitbread pubs in the Hastings area, including The Bull Inn and others I am researching for this project.  

A year ago, The Bull Inn was faltering, but the return of the present tenant, Dawn, and her daughters, has brought life back to the pub and its restaurant trade. When I walked into the pub yesterday, I immediately warmed up, with the 2 real fire-places no doubt helping, then I noticed the beer handpumps, a few photographs above, which I imagine are late Victorian, art nouveau methinks! 

Anyway, The Bull is now a Shepherd Neame tenancy, so 3 of their beers are served from the handpumps, and it is open all day, except on Mondays during the winter, when it closes at 3pm and for the rest of the day. Food is served 12-2pm every day, and from 6.30-9pm Tuesday to Saturday, with an impressive looking choice of 3 roast dinners at Sunday lunchtime. 

To ales! I tried 2 of the 3 on offer, the Spitfire (4.2%) and the very good Kent's Best (4.1%), which was nice and bitter, and both were in very good form, and well served by the affable chap behind the bar, Steve; as was the rather eatable BLT with salad on the side I enjoyed for just under a fiver. The other ale was their Masterbrew, and they have plans to replace the Kent's Best with the brewery's 'micro' 3.9% Whitstable Bay Pale Ale, a very pleasant session bitter, I usually find. 

I also had a nice chat with Dawn, and I wish her well, my only suggestion would be to have a 'guest ale' from a more local Sussex brewer, but what do I know? Dawn's the person making a success of The Bull Inn, not me! 

My thanks to John Hodges for suggesting I investigate The Bull Inn, and for sharing some of the historical information with me; more about the pubs of Hastings can be found on my Steve on Hastings blog, cheers!  

A walk in the country, starting and ending at Robertsbridge, Sussex, 5th April.

As I say above, this started at Robertsbridge, a bit of a hike through muddy fields ensued, with our final drinks at the Salehurst Halt, about a mile from Robertsbridge.  It was wet, cold, strong winds, snow, sleet, let's face it, not nice walking weather, but each of the following pubs had real fires (I'll post some more photographs soon on my facebook page @ https://www.facebook.com/pages/Steve-the-Beermeister/220910834601992), so not so bad...

Our first stop was at The White Horse Inn (site) near Hurst Green.  Shirley was behind the bar, a font of information about Hastings, in particular, and very happy to share her knowledge, as we (my brother, the 'Routemeister' and I) were happy to hear. A lovely big pub, with a great looking restaurant area, and, we were assured, excellent views out the back in better weather, but only selling the ubiquitous Harveys Sussex Best (4%) ale-wise, which we all know by now, but it was still greatfully imbibed, and a big CHEERS to the great barstaff! 

We then walked the long way round (avoiding roads whenever possible) to Bodiam, it's late Norman castle, and The Castle Inn (site).  This is a Shepherd Neame pub, and a fine example of one, though, sadly, not much call for Bishop's Finger here, as most patrons are drivers... One real cider, Thatchers Heritage (4.9%) and 3 ales from the Kent brewer, ie the paler Early Bird (4.3%), Spitfire (4.2%), and we drank the Master Brew, a typical Kent session ale at 3.7%, and still with more flavour than the Sussex Best!  The lady behind the bar, not sure if she was the landlady or not, but very amazingly, didn't complain when the Routemester took his walking boots off to dry his feet, very friendly and a nice one to 'boot', cheers! 

Our favourite pub of the day was our last choice of the day, the Salehurst Halt (site), which used to be a railway station, but is now a nice 'free house', a mile away from our destination, Robertsbridge, and not as bad a walk between the two as we'd worried about, and the weather had improved significantly by now. This was a very friendly establishment, a helpful barman/landlord (forgot to ask), who let me try the excellent cider, cheers!  This was obviously a popular pub, being Friday evening by now, people had already booked tables for dining and it quickly became quite busy. 

The 1 real cider was East Stour's 6% Traditional Cider, and the three local ales included their 'regular', Harveys Sussex Best (4% and yawn!), and two guest ales. The first was Pig & Porter Red Spider Rye (5.5%), which I've seen elsewhere very recently, and our choice, OK, I'm not too original, but I do love the stuff, as does the Routemeister, ie Dark Star Hophead, 3.8% of lovely pale hoppy bitter, and in fine fettle too, we didn't try the suggested (by the barman) 8 pints extra, but did stay for a lovely second pint.

I'll be back, as indeed, I'm sure Dan will, cheers!

Friday 12th October - Hastings, and a new pub too!

Below, posing outside the Dolphin, Rock-a-Nore, Hastings in my alias as 'Snoopy' on the facebook 'Steve the Beermeister' page (link), Friday was a foray into a few central Hastings pubs too.

 

 

The Dolphin had the usual Hophead, Sussex Best, Youngs Special and Dark Star APA; together with guests 1648 Britannia, a pale, dry and fruity 4% ale, which early in the barrel was almost apple or cider like, but as it carried on conditioning, was even better, maturing into a very good bitter; ale doesn't fail to surprise me at times!  The other ale was Long Man Old Man, which has since been replaced by Long Man Sussex Pride, what I would call a very decent traditional bitter, 4.5%, and very pleasant, it has certainly improved since I first tasted it, Long Man are fast becoming a very consistent brewer, excellent news for Sussex.

 

As ever, great company in the Dolphin, Mark the landlord in fine fettle, mostly on our side of the bar, and the landlady's daughters, Laura and Louise, behind the bar, always pleasant, cheers!

From the Dolphin, in the 'Old Town', I walked back into the town centre and, at first the General Havelock, which lies between Cambridge Road and Havelock Road; in fact, there's an old 'right of way' through the pub, indeed, there used to be an alleyway, which can be noted quite easily! 4 ales on, and Westons Old Rosie, the real cider available. Ales included Hophead, Doom Bar, Landlord and the ubiquitous Sussex Best; I of course, chose to drink the Hophead, tasted good, as it should, and well served by the lovely Ellen, who has worked behind the bar since the pub reopened (not literally). Food looks good, especially the paninis, and the chips looked excellent, only £1.50 a bowl (LARGE portion) and £1 as a side dish, good value. 

 

I then ventured round the corner/across the road to The John Logie Baird, Havelock Road, the 'spoons of Hastings, which also features Old Rosie as it's real cider, and millions of ales, well, quite a few, including London Pride, Abbott Ale, Youngs Special, Bishops Finger, Deuchers IPA, Hook Norton Old Hooky, and my choice today, Elgood's Greyhound.  The Greyhound is a 5.2% bitter, pale, it was slightly hazy, not as great as I'd expected, but not bad, certainly at £1.45 a pint (priced £1.95, but with my CAMRA 50p off voucher, thank you Mr Spoon). Very happy to see the interestingly adorned Tash working behind the bar again, always a pleasure. 

Finally, I visited a new pub, for me, under new management, which has been a Shepherd Neame pub, The Fountain on Queens Road.  I believe it is now a freehouse, but still getting their beers from Sheps; a bit confusing the status! The only ale they had on was Shepherd Neame Master Brew, though there are 2 handpumps, so room for variety as they develop their new regulars.  The ale was very good, actually, well conditioned, and much better than I remembered, though I hadn't drunk it for a while.

 

The barstaff were friendly, though it was very quiet for a late Friday afternoon, and the pub was quite bright and 'airy', ie quite large and well served by good sized clear windows.  I got the feeling of a bar for younger people as my first impression, and they do have live music at weekends.  Good luck to the new management, we could do with better ale houses in this part of town.

 

Cheers!