Viva Brighton Issue #62 April 2018

BITS AND BARS
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Painting by Jay Collins
PUB: THE WEST HILL
In the James Gray collection of photos there is only
one of the ‘Belle Vue Inn and Tavern’, taken in 1872, 20
years after the purpose-built pub on Buckingham Place,
just up from the station, first opened its doors. But
there are plenty more taken from outside the pub, and
for good reason. The photo shows the words ‘The Finest
View in Brighton’ emblazoned on the pub’s façade:
‘belle vue’, of course, is French for ‘beautiful view’.
In the noughties, the pub was given a new name ‘The
West Hill Tavern’ (after the name of the hill it sits on)
after one of many changes of hands: it seems to have
gone through more transmogrifications in recent years
– as one online critic has noted – than Dr Who. Now
there is a different message on the front, aiming to
draw you into the building, rather that look out from it:
‘Local ales... Home Cooked Food.’
Many will remember the pub for its licensing hours;
as it has traditionally been a live music bar it used
to be one of the places to go after you were kicked
out of all the others. Others remember it for its bar
billiards table: a fine game where the holes are in
the middle of the slate and you knock the black peg
down at your peril.
Sadly that game is long gone, but there are plenty more
reasons to visit the pub’s latest reincarnation. The new
owners – at the helm since April 2017 - are husbandand-wife
team Ben and Heather Pistor; Heather used
to be the creative director of the bar and events company
Mothership Group, so she knows what she’s doing.
Every day, in fact, there seems to be a different reason
to visit, whether that’s a quiz night, piano bingo, DJs,
Fipsaw (French radio and jigsaws), jazz, live bands, and,
strangely enough, a meat raffle. The night I pay my
latest visit is a Tuesday, which means it’s open mic night.
I haven’t been for a few years, and my first impression
is that it’s much less tatty than it used to be. It’s warm,
and cosy, and there’s only one table free, at which I
gratefully park myself, waiting for my companion with
a pint of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. When she comes we
each order one of the 13 gin-and-tonic variations on
offer – mine’s a ‘Saffron’, very dry, very French - and a
burger from their imaginative menu. I go for a ‘Westie’
with Sussex cheddar, which turns out to be plump and
succulent, and comes with chips and slaw. And live
music, of course: first up, an angsty Spanish man with a
jangly guitar...
Alex Leith
thewesthilltavern.com
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