The Lansdown Arms

If you coming out of Lewes Station and head over the bridge to the right, you won’t be surprised that one of the first things to come into sight in this alcohol fuelled country is a pub… The Lansdown.
Unlike most establishments that have cropped up and then eventually become the norm, The Lansdown has a genuinely warm and welcoming character to it-​speaking of character, it has a bloody great tree through the middle of it (not actually real but so?).
What more could you want? A comfortable nature and tree, Well some beer would be nice also… you’re in luck. And completely out of the blue, some man bought me a pint! That never happens-​well sometimes it does but he didn’t look like the sort of bloke to want anything back.

The Lansdown is where most people start their Lewes pub odyssey as its literally one minute from the station and very close to the ‘Dripping Pan’ (Lewes football ground). Its a relatively small boozer with some pretty interesting décor inside including a fake tree and a grim reaper skeleton hanging from the ceiling. It sounds stupid but it does work.
The music policy here is great and they get quite a few local live acts to play now and again. They don’t accept cards which is a bit of a pain but there is a cash-​point just opposite the station when you come out so best to get your beer tokens first!
Food wise, they occasionally have some nice cheese or ham rolls at lunchtime but these usually run out so best to grab a nice pie from a local bakers before.

The Tree
Sometimes even the Brighton nightlife can feel a little stifling, therefore one needs to escape and head to somewhere new and more chilled out. Less than fifteen minutes away from Brighton by train is the quaint town of Lewes. When I say chilled out, I mean it!
Lewes is certainly not going to usurp Brighton as the South coast’s party capital, but it does have some excellent public houses.
One of which was the Lansdown. You just knew you were somewhere more «local» when the barmaid greets you outside whilst having a quick cigarette with: «I’ll be through in a minute.» Then you walk in and they’re having a pub quiz. It just all seemed to fit right. That was until I noticed:
A TREE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PUB!
I took a picture to try and illustrate this, but it was a little dim… hopefully you get the idea!
This quirky touch just made this place for me. I mean, you’ve got traditional and then you’ve got traditional with a tree. I definitely liked the tree. Can you tell? There was atmosphere here in spades and it was the right kind of atmosphere for a pub: a real pub.