Horsham Beer Trail

A few weekends ago, I strolled into Horsham on a Saturday to discover The Big Nibble Food and Drink Festival in full swing. One of the events of the Festival was the Horsham Beer Trail which invited you to buy a small glass and visit ten pubs. Naturally, this was an offer that seemed churlish to refuse.

For just £1, why not experience the Horsham Beer Trail involving many of the town centre pubs and bars? Pick up a commemorative mini Beer Trail tankard and set off for a journey, visiting the town centre’s most diverse watering holes and sampling some of the finest beers that Horsham pubs have to offer.

So, two friends and I set off for Piries Bar, bought our 90-100 ml glass for £1 and strolled round the town centre visiting a range of pubs, firstly Piries, then Ye Old Stout House, the Lynd Cross, the Black Jug, the Anchor, the Crown, the Bear, the Olive Branch, the Malt Shovel, and the Beer Essentials shop. At each pub, we tasted one of the beers that was on the Beer Trail list and had our programme signed/stamped. At the end, we added the programmes into a prize draw. Sadly, none of us we won the Meal for Two prize (!)

Ten Pubs for a Pound

I enjoyed the Trail and it was good to try different beers in each pub. Overall, I tried ten beers for £1. Despite what this sounds like, it was not a boozy pub crawl (honest), you need to remember that the glass was about one sixth of a pint so we drank less than two pints. Of course, you could buy more beer in each pub if you wanted.

The beers included Dark Star's Hophead, Hall and Woodhouse's Tanglefoot, Fursty Ferret, a dark beer with a hint of chocolate (I've completely forgotten the name of it, sorry), Timothy Taylor's Landlord, and a golden Sussex bitter.

One almost final point, the Trail also gave me an excuse to visit a few pubs in Horsham that I've not visited for a while. Most of the pubs seemed to be having a very quiet Saturday lunchtime, apart from The Bear and the The Lynd Cross which were busy. Life must be tough for pubs if they cannot attract more customers on a busy town centre Saturday.

Overall, 165 people completed the Trail, which was a record number. I'm definitely intending to take part again next year!