Northern Lights

Love this pub! Firstly I love it for all the amazing vodkas they do. I like to spend a long afternoon here working my way through some of them. The bar staff are really friendly and love to recommend the best drinks. Try their iced tea — no tea involved but really nice long vodka drink. I love the mint vodka which is great quality so I just drink it on it’s own with some ice, sooo good.
The food here is excellent quality. They do lovely smorgasbords which are great for sharing with quality cheeses and delicious home made bread and chutney.
Forget ikea meatballs, here you can get the real deal!
Cosy atmosphere with more seating upstairs. Another cool drink they do is Original which is a can of fizzy gin and grapefruit :)

Lovely quaint pub, good selection of ciders and beers — all Nordic. A bit squished upstairs with a few tables packed in but otherwise a lovely place to chill and have a drink.

On my last visit, I had their pork belly dish and it was so nice. I was surprised with the quality of it and will not hesitate to eat there again. The Northern Lights never fail to surprise me. They have quirks and perks showing a fun-​loving, welcoming environment that gets people to keep coming back. Our tradition is having these shots we nicknamed «woodchips». Lethal stuff but great on a night out LOL

Warm and friendly quirky pub with a Scandinavian flare. Lots of home brewed drinks as well as dishes. Lovely :) If you haven’t tried their fare, you really should.
Definitely one to visit if you haven’t already.

Quirky and a lot of fun– the northern lights is a scandanavian bar with regional drinks (alot of Tuborg and fishermans friend vodka) and serving regional norwegian and some sweedish meals and meze dishes.
What makes this place good though isnt the food or drink, its the atmosphere– feels abit like going to a party where you warmed to everyone in the room. Basically the staff make the place brilliant and everyone else follows suit.
I once hosted a charity pub quiz in their area upstairs, they were really helpful throughout and didnt charge me for the room and helped out with some free turborg to calm my nerves of getting on the mic!
Enjoy this pub.

Dear Northern Lights Pub,
I am wondering if you ever hung up the photo of my two friends and I standing in front of the aurora in Norway. We used to be regulars here and we gave you this picture to hang up. If someone in Brighton is reading this, please check for me?!
Thank you,
Michael
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This place speaks for itself. One of the best pubs in all of Brighton, for sure. It is charming yet also edgy at the same time. And the drinks aren’t bad either!

Some of my greatest Brighton memories have been inside this pub — and outside, sat in the middle of the South Laines, in the summer. I can’t comment on the food — although I’ve heard and smelt great things — but it is GREAT for drinks.
Drinks are a little pricey — around £¾ a pint — but that’s fairly normal for Brighton, and you really do pay for what you’re getting.
The pub is fairly small, and pretty much always packed out, but it’s got this cosy, homely feel and buzzing atmosphere that I can’t quite emphasise enough without taking you there myself.
Take a group of friends and don’t make any plans for the rest of the evening — you won’t want to leave until it closes.

The building itself is just too great — so English, so old, so spooky. Walking in, you almost feel like you’ve entered into a different time, the present fast-​paced world and its modern stresses just slipping away… maybe they were blown off by the sea air, maybe the ghost grabbed them on your way in. Either way, this place is not to be ignored, not to be missed.
The staff was (to me) quite quick and friendly. I had two glasses of wine in my hand almost too fast, as I would have liked to stand at the bar a bit longer and stare at all the people. This place draws an interesting crowd, and the building itself is something to be observed carefully as well. The only food I was able to try was the potato pancake with pork belly. It was quite lovely, though the pork belly was a little tough. The glass of wine was decent, and reasonably-​priced (exactly what one needs). Overall, a place that I would most definitely return… and would suggest that you give a try. Oh, and if it’s busy outside and busy inside — try heading upstairs.

Usually packed to the brim, noisy, slow service, but it cannot be beaten for atmosphere and quirkiness. This is a usual haunt of my friends, and I make sure to bring any visiting guests of mine for an einstok beer here. Love it!

I only recently discovered the Northern Lights pub, and I’m very glad I did. The pub, though relatively small, has a great atmosphere and is often packed, with people flowing out into the outdoor seating area, especially in the warmer months.
The ambience is really great, with friendly bar staff full of wonderful recommendations and awesome drink-​making skills. A friend and I first went in and asked for two vodka lemonades, much to our bartender’s horror. ‘Vodka lemonades?’ he asked, seemingly unimpressed with our truly unoriginal order. ‘No,’ he said, with a smile. ‘We specialise in vodka here — we have all different kinds, all great quality — I’ll make you a Scandinavian Ice Tea instead. Just try it and see what you think!’ he ventured. Now, I do appreciate that some people might not love this rather bold, semi-​rejection of their drink order, but we thought this was great! How exciting, we murmured to each other, as the bartender handed us over our drinks. There we stood, sipping away, and to be fair, they were quite simply delicious! Much tastier than a regular vodka lemonade, but not so far from the taste that you’d be disgruntled by the swap.
It’s moments like this that make the Northern Lights feel very authentic and welcoming. There’s always great music in the background and often people up dancing, having a great time. I believe the food is great also, though I admit I have not yet tried it myself
The only slight drawback is that, though perfectly reasonable, the drinks aren’t quite as cheap as some of the other nearby haunts, however the quality and atmosphere quickly make up for the slightly higher price and so I would thoroughly recommend a visit to anyone.

Service was a bit laid back and slow at first. But worth waiting for. I ate the Scandinavian style fish stew (£11). Which was awesome. A very good sized portion, it left me feeling full up. And it tasted great too. The Icelandic toasted porter that we drank with it went down well too. I’d definitely be making a return visit next time I’m in Brighton.

lovely vibe. nice people. good drinks. cosy and welcoming. :)

One of brightons hidden gems in my eyes I love it here and love how they serve all of the rekordlig I could want also like there mini outside seating area. I went here for a wedding and the staff were so hospitable that’s I constantly return!!!

I come down to Brighton all the time and always stop by the Northern Lights… has so much personality and such a unique little place. Has Scandinavian food (although I have never tried it… so no comments there), beer, liquor etc… quite a sweet little place. Nothing fancy but very «Brighton» :D I love it!

What a great find! A friend and I were searching for dinner in the Lanes, but all the places recommended to me weren’t feeling very dog-​friendly, so we kept looking on my Unilocal app, and when I saw Northern Lights, it piqued my interest.
Unlike many of the restaurants around, it’s a pub style with a kitchen that’s Scandinavian focused. For a really good price, we both had the Swedish meatballs with potatoes and fresh veggies and beats, as well as a bottle each of Icelandic beer (to be specific it was £12 each). We sat outside and enjoyed the nice weather, had a great meal, and I felt considerably more interested in the entire Scandinavian area, because one good meal can definitely spark my interest.
There’s a dining room upstairs in addition to the bar area downstairs, and it’s all quite nice. As we heard from a local tour walking by, apparently, the place is haunted, which makes it even more cool in my eyes. It’s on the edge of the Lanes, but don’t let that deter you, it’s definitely worth a stop in.

Despite living in Brighton for three years, I’ve only recently discovered this gem!
The closest I’ve come to Nordic/​Swedish food is the restaurant section in Ikea, so the food here was an absolute treat! There was so much variety! I went with a big group, so managed to get a sneaky try of quite a few things, and would definitely recommend going here if you want a nice meal in a great little venue. My only negative comment is that the starters were tiny and took a while to come (but I imagine this was down to the size of the group!)
Definitely worth a shot!

I’m just going to 5 star this place straight away. We arrived on a Sunday afternoon and stayed for ages. The place has a really warm feel about it and the food looked good (although we already had dinner reservations).
They sell far more types of Scandinavian booze than we tried so I will need to come back sometime.
I have no idea what this place is like later in the evenings but I’d like to find out.

Northern Lights is a cool alternative to many a drink in Brighton, primarily because the Scandinavian theme here has really been taken to heart. You’re not just sitting in a replica log cabin, you’re also being plied by plenty of classic Scandinavian drinks, as well as listening to lots of Nordic pop-​rock. I think it’s all very cool and like it a lot, but it is a type of food and drink that seemed a bit alien at first. I recommend getting used to it: it may well end up being a favourite for you too!
The food and drink is mostly Scandinavian and delicious, but it is a bit of an acquired taste. This is a poor place to go for a hearty meal, or for a quiet pint: the Finn’s love their vodka and small appetisers, and they are here in droves. There’s loads of flavoured spirits, and I recommend trying some of the classic Finnish vodkas: they are a huge step up from the Russian knock-​offs everywhere in this country sells. Still, you have to be coming here for a certain type of evening: it isn’t the sort of place to sit and relax in. Go, find out what sort of night you’ll have here, and then come back for something similar when you’re in the mood: don’t try and make this into your local.

Brighton is so globally influenced that we have our very own Scandinavian pub. From the front it looks a bit like a countryside cottage. The inside is more like a Swedish sauna due to the wall to wall wood, although the temperature is perfectly normal so there is no need for nudity.
The drinks and food menu are equally Scandinavian; Tuborg and Swedish meatballs being my personal favourite. You can go even more traditional and try things like the sautéed reindeer or
Akvavit.
Northern Lights regularly has live events on; from DJ sets to a ‘Big Lebowski’ night (awesome). For anybody looking to take in some of Scandinavia’s charm, they have an upstairs function room which is free to rent.

I’m ashamed to admit I hadn’t been to Northern Lights until a few months ago when my mate Pete threw a leaving party there. It was such a fantastic night I’ve been back a few times since and each time, I’ve been quietly blown away by the friendly bar staff, the great service and the excellent ambience. They play everything from psyche-​rock to old skool funk and this seems to keep the staff and the punters mellow.
The owners, Pale and Manu, are passionate Scandanavians that believe in living life with ‘open hearts and open minds’ and the bar reflects this. The downstairs bar is cosy and there’s a great space upstairs for weekends and parties. Lunch-​times and early evenings, they serve open and toasted sandwiches on rye bread, soups, salads and meatballs. The real reason you’ll want to go time and time again however, is for their wonderful range of spirits. They have over 2 dozen different, good quality vodkas including Absolut, Grey Goose and their house favourite, the Salty Mary.
No puns until after midnight please…