Bugle Inn

If it’s cool hair cuts, thick rimmed glasses, drinks that end in ‘inha’ or ‘ito’ and ironic gaudiness that tickle your fancy; Brighton is undoubtedly the place for you. However, The Bugle Inn just off the Lewes Road may not be, for a number of reasons which I will now attempt to explain.
Firstly the Bugle Inn or just simply the ‘Bugle’ is a proper old fashioned boozer in the best sense of the word, a bit dingy, full of loyal drinking borderline alcoholics, live folk music and a local ales.
Walking into the pub, you are immediately struck by the lack of pretense in the décor in a city obsessed by such things. A dark, rich, beer sodden and (used to be) smoke infused character has penetrated seemingly every last fitting in the pub down to the old fashioned 60s style carpet and ornate wooden bar fittings. The walls are relatively bare, and art work has mostly been snubbed in favour of a few relatively modern guinness posters. Lets not be in doubt, this place is geared toward the simplistic art of drinking in a pub and the atmosphere is produced almost wholly by the punters and the owners (all people, not aesthetics), which I think is the special essence of the pub.
The other crucial element to this place which demarcates it from the rest of Brighton, is that it is an Irish pub, but not in the European idea of an Irish Pub as some reductive theme park made of oversized Guinness hats and fake memorabilia. No. This is an Irish pub in a sense which I didn’t realise was really possible in Brighton; its full of Irish people (including the owners). I used to live next to the pub with my window facing the street and I promise on a busy night when live music was on, the accents of the leaving crowds could sometimes make me question in a half sleep-​induced haze, whether or not I had in fact transported myself to my own grandfathers fatherland in dream. I don’t know where the rest of the time this Irish population is hiding in Brighton, but they do seem to come out of the woodwork, for this one special watering hole. If its possible to say, this strong Irish presence simply makes the place a bit more lively, open and laid back than most quite small, localised pubs in England which often can have their established pecking order on show for all to see and feel.
The Bugle, is basically a great pub to get away from the more knowing Brighton scene, have a pint, a chat, and also maybe on an odd thursday night see some live Irish music.
However after writing this review i now realise the irony which lays at its core. The ‘ironic gaudiness’ that i originally bemoaned of Brighton and held up The Bugle as it antidote to, is i suppose, in many ways what could be seen as the pubs attractions to many, and maybe even me? So my advice, which you should most likely not take is to not go there, and allow me to enjoy this little unspoilt gem on my own. Or just go, and have a good old fashioned knees up, and leave the thick rimmed glasses behind (unless you actually can’t do without).