Black Horse Byworth

Met some old friends at the Black Horse in Byworth for a quick drink on Easter Sunday at lunchtime. This turned into quite a long drink, an afternoon being introduced to and reducing the size of their wine cellar then back to the Black Horse in the evening for a meal and to participate in the quiz. Verdict - this is a really nice pub serving good food and decent local real ales. I can wholeheartedly recommend the shepherds pie. The quiz was good fun too. All in all - a thoroughly great place to spend a few hours.

Unlike just about every other building in Byworth, the Black Horse is not particularly pretty or picturesque. But it is very old, at least 300 years. It must have started as a drovers pub and there are the remains of an inn sign out the back facing what is now the footpath from Petworth but what would have been the drove in days gone by.

I quite like the way that this is a very old pub but it doesn't play up its antiquity in any way.

The Star Petworth

The Star is the main pub in the centre of Petworth. It is very much a locals pub with darts and quiz nights. It does food during the day and has a good selection of beers. It has a page on http://www.pubsulike.co.uk/ which makes it seem a bit bigger than it actually is, but has some nice photos of the interior.

The current landlord is quite active in organising entertainment with quizzes and darts tournaments and the like.

Update 30.3.09 First full day after the clocks have gone back. I was wandering past the Star this evening and it was full of people enjoying coffee and pastries, presumably enoying the extra daylight in the evening. It is good the way in the last few years pubs have branched out into offering all sorts of catering options. So if you are in the Petworth area early in the evening, here is somewhere you can get a snack.

Horse Guards Hotel Tillington

The Horse Guards is without doubt one of the best pubs in the Petworth area. It is just outside the town, along the A272 exactly the other side of Petworth Park.

The food is excellent, but unlike a lot of pubs with good food it is still basically a pub with a bar you can stand at and have a drink.

Find out more at their website.