BRAPA in .... THE PEOPLE WHO EAST GRINSTEADED THEMSELVES TO DEATH
4 minutes ago
7 min read
Saturday 8th August 2026
Angmering station was the staging post for the final day of my long weekend in West Sussex. It involved a change at Ford .....
Ford would pee me off by including a pub in the 2027 GBG for the first time since 2008. Sadly, I didn't have any insider knowledge but to think there are beer bellied Sussex men and women out there who knew this fact pains me.
Ford also boasts the best named historical West Sussex GBG entry in the 'Shakey Doo' due to a Luftwaffe bomb falling down the chimney. Sadly shut now.
Yep, I'm back here this evening armed with West Sussex facts. You'll make a Chrissy Dyson out of me yet.
The train was a riot of prosecco tanned tits and teeth, all off to Worthing or Brighton and I had to fight my way off at Angmering, before a 20 minute walk to neighbouring Rustington for our first tick.
I don't wish to sound unfair, but what a drab non-contributing zero the Quill, Rustington (3575 / 6336) was. You couldn't even class it as a micropub. Wine / coffee bar. Apart from one jungly sliver of wallpaper, zero colour or charisma. The beer was dire. Long Man often disappoints me just as much as namesake Ryan did when he played for Hull City, and with hindsight, I got the impression the barman KNEW it was off, such was the hesitation and nervous glances over to me. I stupidly glugged so much early doors, that asking for a return would've been unreasonable . Formerly known as the Georgi Fin, a change of ownership forcing a change of name because naming a bar after other people's kids could be viewed as noncey in some circles. Still in the '27 Guide (good!), so perhaps I got unlucky.
A bus to Worthing follows, a town I've never 'bonded' with. Tonnes of GBG entries, all spread out, generally mediocre micros, and the people lack charm. Nice sea breeze though!
I press the button deep in the western outskirts, because I'd spied a 3* CAMRA pre/post emptive called Fynn. This too was a former Georgi Fin (so still teetering on the edge of nonceness) but unlike its Rustington namesake, I loved this place. So much so, I might declare it my favourite Worthing pub experience ever. The stout purred. Staff and locals thoroughly welcoming and a bit mad. Low lit and a shape that was conducive to settling in for a sesh. Takeaway fish n chips are brought in, and conversation segues from Lord of the Rings to Len Fairclough. Such a film biopic could be called Teetering on the Edge of Nonceness. Which bookends my time here nicely.
Sadly, the words BRAPA and 'sesh' don't really go together - not in the same pub anyway - as I took on the yomp north of West Worthing station where I became stuck at the level crossing to enhance bladder pain.
Ah, this was more like the familiar Worthing to which I've become accustomed. Fox & Finch Alehouse, Worthing (3576 / 6337). A miserable empty micro 2pm on a summer's Saturday, licking its wounds in the northern reaches of town. A mute welcome from skinny pink haired alt-rock chick who looks bored to tears but makes no attempt to engage. The loos are the highlight. Cobra shaped sliding door handle, selection of exciting tins stuck to the bathroom wall. Tempts me to bring my pint in here and enjoy it on the khazi, but then again, this Siren Memento was so limp and lifeless I'd have only been tempted to flush half of it away. Dropped from the 2027 Guide, we cannot be surprised.
I'd been staring at a handsome Fullers gaff across the road, 2* on CAMRA (out of 3), wouldn't do any harm would it? But the Thomas A Becket was just as woeful. Difference being my photos made it look calm and genteel! Ooops. But trust me, with fizzy beer that tastes like stale library books, idiots Dad's and kids running amok, this wasn't the pre-emptive I'd hoped.
The benefit of being stuck at West Worthing station level crossing for a SECOND time was that it allowed me to notice a micropub so new, it hadn't even factored into my pre-emptive reckoning .... I'm talking about the Foresters, another new Worthing micro and whilst it felt like a flimsy work in progress in part, the ale was good and just as well because the barmaid's short denim shorts had distracted me into ordering a pint when a pre-emptive half would've done.
And best of all, this pre-emptive DID make the cut for 2027 and ensure I have a year off from visiting Worthing and I can't tell you how happy that makes me.
But I wasn't quite done with the most disappointing town in West Sussex just yet, as I wend my way central coastal-wards for my final tick.
And whilst we're on the subject of micros, shout out to my new mate Scott's blog https://micropubadventures.co.uk/ Way more professional than my BRAPA site, and doesn't only specialise in micros but rail ale crawls, brewery taps (the poor lad) and just proper independent pubs. Oh, and he's convinced me to pop into Derby's Merry Widows next time I'm there cos the number of times I've walked past that imagining some shithole when it might actually be amazing.
But don't click that link til you've finished suffering through my Sussex shitshow. I know you love the pain. And anyway, it is about to get better ......
To spite me further, Anchored in Worthing, Worthing (3577 / 6338) has moved to a new location since my 2021 visit. I remember it best for Tom 'Clag Monster' Irvin rocking up in a dead man's suit following a failed job interview and was forced to drink a posh Frobisher's orange juice in the absence of blackcurrant cordial. It was perhaps the most positive Worthing micropub experience I've had to date, and I'm glad to report that the vim & vigour of the punters, nautical leanings, peculiar benches and general bric-a-brac quirky tat immediately transported me back to that 2021 day, a fine recreation. When a friendly Demon Headmaster starts smiling at you from behind the bar in his faded Beastie Boys shirt, it is easy to be hypnotised into choosing a 6.5% Gun Zamzama IPA. Took some drinking I tell thee. An Irish man asks me why anyone would go all the way to Carlisle to watch a football match. It's called passion mate. I didn't say that as he looked a bit John Egan-ish but we can't all rattle around Blue Square South for eternity can we? Oh, they got promoted? Congrats!
Happy to leave Worthing on a high, I reflect that there's still time for me to grow fonder of the town. After all, I don't dislike Leicester, Ipswich, Staines, Wrexham and Reading like I did on my first, second and third visits to each of those questionable towns. Which is a mark of the man I am. BRAPA allows room for growth. Acceptance. You could call me progressive. A folk-hero in some circles. But that's not for me to say.
And with 42 different pubs featuring in the GBG over the years, I'm pretty sure I'll be back in Worthing before full BRAPA completion in 2044.
Time for the train back north, even further north than my Horsham digs. I'm ending this mini break in a dual-GBG pub town of East Grinstead. Snacks to sober my up after that 6.5% ......
A long 'illy walk to the edge of town for something of a GBG regular despite being in and out of the GBG for the last few decades ......
A Harvey's house on a hill, so a good job I hadn't gone in too heavy on the dinky honey & mustard sausages. Old Dunnings Mill, East Grinstead (3578 / 6340) had a psychedelic psychic premonition in 1970 concerning the formation of this crazy bearded group called CAMRA (brought on by too many mushrooms) and decided to bin off the 15th century mill in favour of a pub. Good lads. Walking inside, you'd think it was older - jolly boys jostling at the bar, turtleneck sweater diners to the rear. One of my 1989 Telstar compilation favourites 'Waiting for a Star to Fall' is playing (see, I wasn't always a punk) but the lads replace 'heart' for 'arse' in the chorus. I'm not having that, especially with my Harvey's bowel, so I take my pint to the scorched summer remnants of a grassy garden - a few kids play on a dangerously sloped slide and swings, but they are well behaved #ChildsNotTwilds and my Armada slips down trickily but rewardingly with no adverse effects!
I retrace my steps, thankfully now downhill because I'm flagging, and as I approach East Grinny centre, the shrieks, whoops and hollers suggest there's a nobbery element to a Saturday night in this town, but I'm not too worried because I'm going underground .......
The steep spiral staircase has me careering down it with such momentum, I'm carried straight past the bar and into the gents and I'm now stood at the trough unable to pee with two big hairy blokes flanking me. FML! Welcome to Engine Room, East Grinstead (3579 / 6341) , the pub winning all the local CAMRA awards at the moment and with seven consecutive GBG appearances. Having feigned peeing for long enough, I finally find the bar and the staff army are such a welcoming chatty lot that my toilet anecdote is actually well received! But when I opt for a pint of the Liquidator Stout, the main guy asks if I can order it as a 'pint of no. 5' as per the blackboard just to 'eliminate all confusion!' Okayyy. Not wanting to outstay my welcome, I explore this cute cave of a micro until I settle in a peaceful empty side room. But not for long! A big group of 'Ammers soon join me - oi, oi'ing, taking selfies, praying Bowen won't go before the end of the transfer window, and testing my ears against these cavernous acoustics. Good place though, definitely has it 'going onnnn'. Recommend. And both East G. pubs held their place in the 2027 GBG.
Comments