The Rose Hill Tavern

Lovely little pub! Really nice atmosphere in the pub, although a bit chilly by the doors during winter!
The food here is fantastic and the portions are great, the roasts come with all the trimmings and sauces to match the meats!

Hooray for the new (ish) owners of the Rosehill! It’s SO much better. I’ve been in and out of this pub for more years than I care to forget and it’s fab to see it back to it’s enjoyable old ways. Cleaned up, cleaned out and ready for decent business, this place is a gem in the pub graveyard that is London Road. Great food, music, film nights — this is on the up.

Having recently under taken an extensive advertising campaign, refurbishment and new direction, I popped down to Rose Hill Tavern to see whats changed.
They’re now selling the sunday Rose Hill experience as «exceptional»; where as previously it has been a low end pub that offered £5 meals, you will now find gourmet roasts including stuffed leg of lamb, marinated sirloin beef and belly of pork.
I had the belly or pork, paying just under £8 for the pleasure. I say pleasure, it was actually quite tough. Still, this is definite improvement on what came before.

For me the Rose Hill tavern is indeed a keen representation of its local flavour and society. Sadly it’s just off London road in Brighton and as a result its brand of flavour and culture can leave a little to be desired. With its green enamelled brick work and small front door it puts you in mind of a Victorian east London gin palace but sadly the sight of drunken locals squabbling and swearing loudly in the street outside has a tendency to shatter the more romantic aspects of this misconception. On the up side the bar staff are friendly enough and the drink selection isn’t all that bad. But Brighton definitely harbours more tasteful dives.

As Marc says, if you’re not looking for the Rosehill you could live in Brighton for a number of years and never even know it existed.
They have a nice selection Sussex ales which have always been of tip top calibre to me but a few friends have mentioned that they have been off and had to have to replaced.
A open fire is always a bonus though.

This gem of a true english pub should be on any pub crawl list. Hidden down the back streets of London Road not many people know about it so it really is a local persons pub but that doesn’t mean outsiders are unwelcome.
They try to have the odd live music and poker nights to mix it up and try to intice new people to come along. With front and back garden seating and a friendly atmosphere it is a cool little pub. I was told to say that the back garden patio is heated so that the garden is not only for the summer.
A couple of local ales also offer those who want to take a sip of local culture and not sell themselves out to the bigger chains which lack exactly that.

An interesting, traditional backstreet local tucked away in a residential street, just yards from the busy shopping area of Preston Circus.
The outside is well worth a look: a traditional dark green tiled frontage, with elaborate stained glass windows, including a reference to ‘United Ales and Stout’. This refers to the defunct Portsmouth & Brighton United Breweries Ltd, based at Elm Brewery, Southsea. Formed by the merger of the Portsmouth United brewery and Brighton’s Rock brewery in 1927, the green-​tiled frontage is typical of that company’s design. The company merged with Portmouth brewery Brickwoods in 1953, and in turn acquired by Whitbreads in 1971.
Inside, the pub has a traditional interior with lots of wood on two levels: the lounge bar is up a few steps on the left, and has its own servery: and behind is a small room dominated by a pool table. Beers include Harvey’s and Old Speckled Hen.
The pub is a stronghold of local regulars, some of whom have started up their own football team, playing in the Sussex Sunday League, in the last few years.

This was such a surprise. For some reason I have steared clear of the pubs around this area. On this occasion we decided to check the pub out. It was so welcoming. The drinkers seemed to be locals.
There is Real Ale. Harveys and Old speckled Hen was on tap!
To one side was a pool table and it looked like a family area. Food is available.
I will be visiting this pub again.