Lewes Pubs: Home of Harvey's Sussex Best Bitter!
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- čas přidán 6. 08. 2024
- A tour of historic pubs in what is quite possibly my favourite town: beautiful Lewes, in Sussex.
Links etc:
Lewes Arms
whatpub.com/pubs/BRI/24/lewes...
pubheritage.camra.org.uk/pubs...
historicengland.org.uk/listin...
pubwiki.co.uk/SussexPubs/Lewe...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewes_A...
Rights of Man
whatpub.com/pubs/BRI/193/righ...
pubwiki.co.uk/SussexPubs/Lewe...
John Harvey Tavern
whatpub.com/pubs/BRI/14/john-...
pubwiki.co.uk/SussexPubs/Lewe...
Gardener's Arms
whatpub.com/pubs/BRI/22/garde...
historicengland.org.uk/listin...
www.pubwiki.co.uk/SussexPubs/...
Snowdrop
whatpub.com/pubs/BRI/25/snowd...
pubwiki.co.uk/SussexPubs/Lewe...
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:15 Lewes Arms
7:58 Rights of Man
12:07 John Harvey Tavern
15:01 Gardener's Arms
17:26 Snowdrop
20:44 Outro
Hi Tweedy. How ironic that on the previous Friday my wife and I sat in the barrel seat in the John Harvey Tavern with me discussing what Tweedy would think of the pub. Well I be blowed that a week later you answered my question. I chose the John Harvey Tavern as it was the Brewery Tap and thus likely to have the best serving of Harvey’s Sussex Best, my first ever taste. To my delight it was poured direct from the cask and was exceptional.
I am smitten on the beer, thank you for introducing me to Harvey’s and their excellent beers. I must make a longer visit to Lewis and next time do a brewery tour. 👏👏👍😀🍺
That's fantastic Andrew! A delightful coincidence and really pleased to hear you are a convert to Harvey's!
@@TweedyPubs I am indeed, and luckily Harvey’s have a pub called the Nags Head in Sunningdale, 14 miles from home. Result 👏👏👍😀🍺
Great video from one of my favourite towns in England and my favourite beer!
Thank you so much for this tour! One can see why Lewes is special - undoubtably beautiful, well-preserved history and traditions, good pubs and last but not least the source of Harvey's beer. 😊
Ive never been to Lewes but it looks a fine town and i love to hear the good people of Lewes are not having a bar of it from any authority. Long may that endure - and its excellent looking pubs. Thanks Tweedy.
Great timing! I’ll be traveling to London from the states for a month at the end of August and plan on spending a couple nights in Lewes, primarily to tour Harvey’s Brewery, drink some great ales, and hike to the Seven Sisters and beyond. As always, wonderful reviews! Thank you so much for taking the time to share your experiences…Cheers!!! 🍻
Good to hear that Ed! I did think about trying to include a Harvey's brewery tour as part of this visit but I was surprised to discover they were fully booked until some time in September! As I said in the video, I think Lewes has a huge amount going for it, I hope you have a great time there!
@@TweedyPubs Clearly, Harvey’s Brewery is quite popular. Fortunately, I listened to my wife and purchased our September 3rd tickets a couple nights back. She saved me from myself yet again!
@@eddavis1832 I'd really recommend a brewery tour from That's The Beer Talking as well - a local guide who also happens to be an International Beer Judge!
My favourite You Tuber. Both pubs and outdoors. Fabulous.
Thank you for those very kind words! I think there probably is a running theme between the two channels but hard to put my finger on what exactly it is.
@@TweedyPubs Never change. I think "hello ladies" should evolve into a catchphrase. Along with "grainy footage" etc.
Watching a Mr Tweedy's outtake vid from his Tweedy outdoors vids led me here...I'm fortunate as I can now go through the back catalogue...It's like I struck oil.
Visit Britain ought to use this video to promote Lewes - it looks wonderful - you’ve done a great job. And I’m sure Harvey’s will be in touch with offers soon!
Some lovely looking pubs and the brewery itself is the epitome of what a brewery should be like. Modern industrial estate breweries are just an abomination!
The avalanche story is always interesting. Worse than the Wilderness Gully one I covered recently, in terms of death toll. What an awful tragedy.
I’ll hereby predict that Tweedy HQ will one day relocate to this town!
Thanks Mr WC21! Yes Lewes really is a delight, and it sells itself - helped further on this occasion by favourable weather. I would indeed love to live there one day! ...and perhaps these efforts to promote tourism to this beautiful part of the world might stand me in good stead when the time comes to submit my visa application for the Kingdom* of Sussex.
* Actually it's probably more of an anarcho-syndicalist commune isn't it?
Enjoyed this, even more so than usual. Only been to Lewes once, whilst on a day off from a week long conference in Brighton. Visited 3 of the pubs in the video, the John Harvey, Gardeners and the Snowdrop, the latter of which I found it hard to leave, as it was so comfortable and the beer so good. The other pub I visited was called the Brewers Arms. Lewes is a charming place, and being home to the Harvey's brewery and so many Harvey's pubs and other good pubs selling Harvey's Sussex Best, is the nearest thing to heaven IMO. I look forward to taking the train and visiting the North East one day, taking in the pubs of Newcastle and Durham.
I live nearby and I thought you gave a very good representation of Lewes Pubs The brewery deliver beer for free on Fridays to the local area. I drink The bitter and in winter Old Ale.both very good.
Thank you - I really appreciate that! I always suspect people in Lewes (or Sussex more generally) take a dim view of the "DFLs" like me, and to be honest I can't blame them.
I can't help keep away though - I love the place! I hope sometimes it's actually useful to have the slightly different perspective of an outsider to help highlight what makes somewhere really special.
Loved this - very informative, keep up the good work - and the drinking 👍
Very interesting!
The Swan, at the other end of Lewes from The Snowdrop, would have been worth a mention.
A nice old building, with a sligthly funky vibe to it.
Yes I did consider it but in the end it just didn't quite make the cut because it was a bit far from the others. It does look nice though.
Hello from Epping Essex! Watched all your uploads. Great Channel.
Thank you! I only know Epping for the forest - which is great. Any pubs you would recommend around there?
Always pleased to see a new Tweedy vid. Cheers my day up!
@@robertgraves8843 Thank you, really happy to hear that!
Another very enjoyable journey around a lovely Sussex town. I am amazed that you managed to turned this video around in a day! Hope that you can make it one day to Rye or Old Town Hastings which both have brilliant pubs and some serve Harveys, a brew unfortunately not available in the East Midlands 😞
Great video as always. Used to live in Sussex many years ago and my friend and I tried to go through the Camra guide to Sussex pubs which had about 500 listed. Just picked one out and met there for a couple of pints. This was when not all pubs sold real ale. We managed to visit over 250 pubs in East and West Sussex before I moved away to put and end to our fun. Lewes was one of the places that had many pubs listed. Keep up the good work.
@@user-qu5sq1sc8g Those sound like fun times! Of course like anywhere else there's inevitably some gastropubification in Sussex, but it's a part of the country I've spent a lot of time in (mostly for walks in the South Downs) and even in recent years I have found the hit to miss ratio of pubs is much better than many other parts of South East England I could mention. I think that "we wunt be druv" attitude is a big part of it.
Love this. Always brilliant to watch. ❤
Thank you!
Great beers 🍻 in Lewis
There's a couple of good modern brewers in Lewes, beak & abyss, though I fear their beers may fall under the grapefruit category! Good to see some traditional pubs there too. I'm lucky, I enjoy a pint of bitter as much as I do the craft beers.
Yes I did briefly consider visiting one of those while I was there but it seemed like the beers on offer were all a bit too grapefruity for my tastes! Sometimes I find an acceptable compromise if those newer craft breweries make something like a porter.
Even as an American, I am a fan of CAMRA. I used its guides to find an interesting pint here and there during my travels.
Excellent video of Lewes pubs. Really, I must get back there as soon as I can.
There has been a lot of talk in recent years of pubs closing, and subsequent total demise of the British pub among the doomsayers. In my experience, many of the pubs that have closed really were never the sort of pubs that I would enjoy. Nearly all the pubs that i did enjoy are still open. I hope that doesn’t sound selfish or with out empathy towards the people that are affected. But as long as the pubs you review remain open and thriving, we have little room for concern.
Hope I'm right!
Thank you, and I do sort of know what you mean - it's hard to imagine a much loved (and usually very busy) pub like, say, the Lewes Arms ever closing down... but whenever I talk to publicans recently I get the sense it's a really hard time for all of them. As I've mentioned before on the channel my family ran pubs in the 1970s / 1980s, an era which people tend to look back on now as a much more prosperous time for pubs... but despite having one or two seemingly thriving pubs, which the locals loved, even back then my parents ended up leaving those businesses pretty much broke.
I've never really understood the economics of it all. How is it, for example, that coffee shops seem to thrive given that so many people go in there, order one coffee, then sit there for three hours using the wifi and writing a novel or whatever it is they're doing. Nobody would go into a coffee shop if it was standing room only, and yet some pubs are occasionally like that - with people buying another pint every half an hour - but still those pubs end up struggling to make ends meet.
Thanks, Tweedy, for referencing American Independence Day while touring some great Lewes pubs for us. After over 40 years in the US (born in Yorkshire), I became a US citizen in 2021. Really enjoy your videos. How can I contribute? Cheers, Dave.
Great video. I was only able to listen to the last third but your descriptions were so good that I could visualise the scenes as if I was there, thank you.
@@chrish5319 Thanks Chris - t's so much easier to wax lyrical when I am in a place I actually want to be in! I love Lewes, hopefully that came across in the video.
Lovely job!!👍
Hang on though!! No mention of what distinctly looks like a Farrow and Ball paint job in the Lewes arms???🤔
😂Are you letting them get away with it because it’s a little gem??? 😂
Great stuff as always, keep up the good work 🍺🍺🍺
I suspect it's F&B's "Battleship Blue" that causes dismay rather than modern paints generally.
Yes I was worried someone might pick up on that! I have known this pub for a long time and I suppose I still see it in a state of hypnosis, remembering the first time I walked through those doors.
@@TweedyPubs Love is blind 😍
👍👍
Went to the Lewes Arms this afternoon. Excellent pub , great staff and the Harveys is A1 .... nothing to fault at all
Great video. When I visit Lewes I tend to meet friends in the Brewers Arms for lunch before moving on to the pubs you depicted. As you likely know, The Brewers Arms is well worth a visit too and has quality beer + meals.
Some of them old pub games i have seen in Cotswolds pubs albeit years ago its strange i have never seen Harvey's beers as a guest here in the Midlands 🍻
There are probably still other decent traditional bitters in pubs in the Midland so the need may not be so great!
Though Best can be found at many pubs, Harvey’s don’t appear to travel much outside their own estate area. Never seen at Wetherspoons.
I remember visiting the brewery thirty years ago and then a group of us embarked on the Harvey's passport; the Harvey's hopper I think it was called. That as tricky for a group of us from London! But we got there in the end.
Great stuff. Lewes definitely worth a visit. Strong anti-establishment vibes in that town.
Definitely a place I feel drawn to at the moment!
Excellent stuff Mr Tweed, possibly one of your best.
Lovely old town well worth a visit in so many ways.
@@russellnixon9981 Thanks Russell! It's so much easier to make these videos when I'm in a place I actually want to be in, and have been to many times before. Lewes definitely is one of those places, and I completely agree there are so many good reasons to visit.
@@TweedyPubs I think another trip to Brighton would be worthwhile. You would get a great pint of Harvey's in the Lord Nelson, and the Prince Albert is of historic interest, both within 250 yards of the railway station. The Basketmakers Arms, a former Gales pub off a side street further down Trafalgar Street, used to be my favourite pub when I lived in Brighton, alas Gales are no longer, but it still serves their beers, alongside those of the pubs new owners, Fullers. An interesting are 20 minutes walk from the railway station is Hanover, a hilly area of terraced streets, that when I lived there seemed to have a pub on every corner, a few have since disappeared, but many still remain, the Sir Charles Napier was a favourite of mine, and the Constant Service is a Harveys pub.
Good to see you out in the shires.
I really should get out of London more often!
Bravo Tweedy, a much anticipated visit to the heartland of Harvey's. Perhaps I will embark on a day trip to Lewes on my upcoming October visit. Coincidentally, we have a Lewes, Delaware here in the States which is not too far from me here at the Jersey shore. Will have to give the Sisters brew a proper tasting indeed.
@@algonzales1809 Thanks Al! I do think Lewes is well worth a visit and if the trains are behaving (that's quite a big "if"!) it's not much over an hour out of London: very manageable for a day trip. Hopefully the history of the place has an added dimension of interest if you are coming from the States, given the Thomas Paine connection. I have to admit I was only dimly aware of his work prior to making this video but I enjoyed researching his history and he struck me as an impressive guy. I like to think his time in independently-minded Lewes gave him the extra push he needed to achieve greatness!
If you want to visit at the beginning of May - the nearest weekend to the fourteenth of that month - the town will be full of men in women in costume, reenacting the Battle of Lewes of 1264. I understand that this is the only town in Britain where reenactors are allowed to fight in the streets where the battle was actually fought, because....well, have you seen Bonfire?
Well Lewis is a place on my lost..cracking pubs..Great brewery is Harvey's. I've no problem with the pubs being mostly Harvey's. Eccles near Manchester is full of Joesph Holt pubs, great brewery of 175 years. Brilliant video and Harvey's Bitter is a belter, cheers John🍺👍
@@SlurpyDave254 Thanks Dave! I agree I don't think it's necessarily such a bad thing that one brewery pretty much dominates a single town (as long as the beer is decent!), especially if different parts of the country still maintain different breweries and different beer styles. The worst possible outcome for me is some kind of McDonald's-ification of pubs, where wherever you go in the UK you get the same pubs ran by the same company with the same beer.
Also I really ought to spend more time in the north of England! Hopefully I will have some opportunities to get further out of London this summer.
@@TweedyPubs you might get a nose bleed John travelling north of Watford😂
And long may it last Dave, like Okells in the IOM. I just caught the tail end of the days when the pubs in most towns belonged to the brewer located in that town, Thwaites in Blackburn, Vaux in Sunderland, Camerons in Hartlepool, Morrells in Oxford, Gales in Portsmouth , Brains in Cardiff etc etc. The likes of Harveys, Okells, Holts, and a few more such as Arkells of Swindon keep the flag flying, though I think even some of these breweries have sold off a lots of their pub estate in recent years.
@ronniechambers2555 Okells still have 30 pubs on island and a few in England...jw lees n holts still have a healthy estate of pubs in Manchester. I like Arkells, solid brewery..cheers Ronnie👍
They were good times and have missed Sussex a lot. We would turn up in a pub in a small village and think Wow! don`t fancy this but went in as we were there anyway but turned out to be great. On the other side of the coin there were some which I still dine out on as they were weird with landlords who could give Basil Fawlty a run for his money. One in particular which I wont name but was near Uckfield felt we had entered the Munsters house. We were the only customers for an hour or so and left looking over our shoulders.
Good video - Harvey’s is great. Next time you visit Lewes you should also try the other 2 (micro/craft)breweries in the town: Beak brewery and Abyss. 😋🍻
I get the impression you enjoyed your day out😆
I certainly did!
Interesting video. Lewes is a good place for a quaff. Years ago, like, we were in the Lewes Arms and witnessed a fellow having his hip flask filled from the optic. Obviously more money than sense. Possibly more sensible to visit the Waitrose and purchase the grog for his hip flask there.
Another excellent video as always
Thank you! I had a very fun day out this time.
Encountered Harvey’s years ago in Brighton. I commend this beer.
What a wonderful town, with great pubs and a great video to go with it! I have been to Lewes a couple of times long ago, and must pay another visit if we ever get a summer. By the way, redolent is exactly the correct word, and should be in more common usage.
Thanks Stuart! It is indeed a wonderful town and never fails to please whenever I head down that way.
Hi John, a great tour of Lewes and advert for Harvey's too.
The flint and brick building style is very distinctive although I dont recall seeing any buildings with the whole stone, aren't they normally broken to give a flatish surface?
Interesting to see the history behind The Rights of Man pub, I shall share this with my American cousins, I have asked them to stump up for all that spilt tea.
Its a lovely looking brewey building.
I'm not sure if it was nestled between grapefruit but I noticed a HSB on tap, I hope Fullers are treating it well.
In defence of grapefruit its how I start my mornings and should definitely not be transmogrified into Ale.
All the best!!
Hi David - I've seen both styles with that flint dressing - either "knapped" (which I think literally just means split) or whole. In fact there are even some buildings where they're sort of worked into roughly square or rectangular shapes so they tesselate better, but that's presumably a lot of effort.
For all that I bemoan the ever increasing presence of grapefruit notes in beer, I have no objection to the fruit itself! I have fond childhood memories of staying with my grandmother, and we'd sometimes have half a grapefruit each for breakfast. She had special grapefruit spoons for scooping it out - the "bowl" (is that the right word?) of the spoon was curved and elongated, and the edge was slightly serrated. Usually a sprinkling of brown sugar on top!
@@TweedyPubs What an amazing memory. I have a grapefruit knife, as you say slightly serrated and curved in order to take each segment out. It was a task for the night before and we would sprinkle with sugar and store in the fridge, it would give a crusty appearance in the morning. Later I progressed to grapefruit juice in the mornings, every morning!!
I do like these summer ales, especially Summer Lightning from the hop back brewery. I crossing fingers that this wouldn't be classed as grapefruity!!
Love Harvey's best, however its doesn't keep well, i've had so many dodgy pints of it and now steer clear
Lewes Pubs: Home of Harvey's Sussex Best Bitter! Tweedy Pubs love louis shirley
Hi tweedy I really like your videos. Have you ever thought about writing a book about the history of pubs
I would love to but there are so many already! I know because I have at least ten on my bookshelves!
Happy 4th of July 🇺🇸🍺🎉
Great video Tweedy. Nice to see you in East Sussex. You may find some interesting pubs in Rye, East Sussex too. Also a part of the Bonfire societies. 🍻
Thanks! I have been to Rye a couple of times (not on video) and it is indeed a beautiful part of the world. I think the only pubs I've been to there are the famous ones (the Mermaid and the Olde Bell). Both definitely worthy of a Tweedy Pubs video in my opinion! Is there anywhere else you'd recommend?
Harvey`s Best is the greatest of bitters!
Next time I am home to England I will be popping in to Ye olde Mitre in Holborn, which was featured in one of your many top videos; always watched with a beer. Thank you.
The Roebuck Inn, Laughton is also a cracking pub. Harvey`s on tap, of course.
Oh this is a special one. There are some good pubs in Lewes, my fave being the Gardener’s Arms. I see you went yesterday when the weather was good.. as I was going to do myself! Might have you seen you there, doing your thing - drinking beer.
Also, I had been told about the chain-pub style of advertising boards at the John Harveys, and I see them here.. they really are awful..
Yes it was a special one for me too! I was fortunate with the weather given how it is today, and how it was earlier in the week.
I think it would be fair to say I am a bit biased when it comes to Lewes, I love the place, I've had so many good times there, as well as in the surrounding area. I love the South Downs, and have often started or ended a walk in Lewes. So some of the things I would probably complain about elsewhere, I tend to turn a blind eye to when it comes to Lewes. Watching the video back - and prompted by others commenting on the video - I realise the Lewes Arms does in fact have a fair amount of the sort of paint job on the walls I usually complain about! ...and yes some of those sign boards at the John Harvey are frankly really ugly.
Probably not my most objective video but the beer was great and it was one of those days where I really felt the need to convince myself I was having a good time no matter what!
At last!
Long overdue I agree!
"Grapefruit adjacent"!!! God Save Us!
Oh no "Grapefruit Adjacent"! Don't tell me the British Pubs are going totally woke.
I'm afraid the march of the grapefruit appears unstoppable.
southern dish-water
@@nigelwatson2750 Each to their own! What's your favourite beer?
@@TweedyPubs Something Northern brewed with soft water
Thanks 👏Lewes looks a
Nice place especially the pubs but i can’t recall if I have been there or not ? 😁 on my to visit list 😁have a nice weekend 🍺
It's a great place! So much going for it.
@@TweedyPubs thanks