Well, we’ll be the judge of that, won’t we ?
First stop in Sussex (West) is that intriguing breed, the community-owned pub.
Balcombe’s Half Moon could be one of those all-out gastros that guarantee gentkefolk a supply of £7.95 sandwiches, or one of the drinking clubs where middle-class pashmina wearers block the bar and the front door to keep strangers out on Sunday afternoon (somewhere near Cheltenham springs to mind).
Pleasingly, it covers both camps, showing the poshos to the restaurant at the door and keeping some sense of a boozer in the main bar.
Mind, it’s not Staines. Here boozing means those goldfish bowls, not pints. And you’ll know from the furniture you’ve left Bootle behind.
The Guvnor was welcoming and chatty, arguing about the pronunciation of Carabao.
An enjoyable Harvey’s (NBSS 3), albeit a bit sweet and chilled, and better than I find it in the many GBG gastropubs round the M23.
It soon warmed up as temperatures pushed towards 20 degrees outside, where all the action was. My table wobbled a bit, though not as badly as in the Scottish Stores.
Children ran around with giant twigs, Helly Hansen ladies compared house extensions, and the banter improved as a gigantic bee landed in the artisan gin, prompting a rush indoors.
If you think I hated it, you’d be wrong. It felt an entirely suitable pub for the residents of Balcombe, and a group of pretend walkers with their pre-creased OS maps in plastic pouches.
They’d come to admire the views to the Weald, and some half-timbered loveliness.
And to get their Ugg boots cleaned.
retiredmartin 
I think this is a point all too often forgotten: “It felt an entirely suitable pub for the residents of…” Just because it isn’t our type of pub doesn’t mean it doesn’t serve the purpose. Great line.
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A pub can be welcoming to poorly dressed plebs even if it caters mostly for well-dressed poshos, and I applaud it for that.
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Always seems to be a danger with community owned pubs that they are run for the benefit of the locals only. Often seem far from my definition of a community pub. I can think of a community owned pub on my old stamping grounds where locals blocked ‘their’ bar and where they were always served first.
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“Harvey’s improves by a 0.25 by leaving pub”. Yes, I have often appreciated a hop aroma outside that I hadn’t noticed inside.
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So a Proper Pub has dogs. Does Tim Martin know?
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Not in my world it doesn’t. I’m with Tim.
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I’m with him on that too, but not on much else.
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More rodents than dogs from what I’ve heard !
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You’re never more than 5 feet from a Wetherspoons rat, I hear.
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What, even when you’re nowhere near one of the pubs?
Are they doing a doorstep campaign?
How much do they get paid?
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Yes, they’re everywhere. Except Haywards Heath, probably.
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Etu,
Yes, Tim did a doorstep campaign with a 48 page version of his ‘Wetherspoon News’ delivered to every house five weeks ago.
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“Children ran around with giant twigs”
What are they? Pigs that are twits (Sp)?
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When I first read that I thought you’d lapsed into BRAPA-speak
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“Pigs that are twits”. Excellent. I’ll use that again.
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Ah yes, that infamous table at Scottish Stores.
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– but not as infamous as its previous use.
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Are your Uggs looking beautiful now?
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