Viva Brighton Issue #56 October 2017

BITS AND BOBS
...............................
PUB: BRIGHTON BEER DISPENSARY
It’s Friday, it’s four o’clock, and
it’s time the weekend started.
The first thing I clock as I walk
into the Brighton Beer Dispensary
is legendary Brighton
hedonist Smelly sitting at the bar
- a very good sign: this is a man
who knows his beer.
The second thing I notice is
a blackboard which half-fills
the back wall, denoting the 16
different ales and ciders on tap,
along with the brewer, ABV
(‘booziness’) and price. I quietly
order the only lager on the list,
Fourpure’s Indy Lager, 4.4%,
£5.20 a pint.
I never went to the Prince
Arthur, which the BBD was
called for over 150 years, until
a collaboration between two
independent companies - Late
Knights and Brighton Bier - led
to its buy-out in 2014 from
Enterprise Inns, though I walked
past it many times. Something
about its scruffy facade didn’t
appeal.
For the record, the first Post
Office Directory mention of the
Prince Arthur was in 1866; Dean
Street was built in the 1820s, so
presumably the proprietor – a
WF Sargood – converted his terraced
house into a drinking place
for the locals. It was named after
Queen Victoria’s third son, later
the Duke of Connaught, then
just 15 years old.
It’s already been taken over again
since 2014 – by the Southey
Brewing Company – but it’s still
very much a place where people
who know their ale go. There are
about ten others in the bar this
afternoon, all men. I’m the only
one drinking lager. It’s a craft
lager, to be sure, but it makes me
feel a little guilty. The Brighton
Beer Dispensary is Brighton &
South Downs 2017 CAMRA pub
of the year.
I leave, then, feeling I haven’t
quite done my job properly, but
it’s not till someone tells me that
the BBD serves pickled eggs
that I resolve to go back. They
don’t, as it happens, but the very
pleasant barmaid suggests I try
some beerkins (battered gherkins
in a hot Thai sauce, £4) instead,
and there’s something about
the way she says it that means I
can’t refuse. It proves to be an
excellent bit of advice. The pub’s
kitchen – branded ‘Dizzy Gull’ –
is done by the people responsible
for The Set restaurant in
Regency Square, and they have
come up trumps here. As I wash
these miracles of taste-and-texture-variety
down, with a tastily
rambunctious pint of Southey
APA (6.2%), I notice ‘black pudding
tacos’ on the specials board,
and resolve to become something
of a regular. Alex Leith
38 Dean Street
Photo by Alex Leith
....21....