The Best Pubs in Brighton and Hove
The prize-winning local by London Road, the vegan boozer with solar panels, the charity pub and the one with notes hidden in tins: Brighton's best pubs.
By Only Brighton Editorial
The best pubs in Brighton are The Signalman by London Road station, which locals voted Best Brighton and Hove Pub at the 2026 BRAVO awards, the plant-based Earth and Stars in North Laine, the charity-run Robin Hood on Norfolk Place, the Basketmakers Arms with its walls of old tins, and the Evening Star by the station, where Dark Star brewery started. Then there is the Cleveland Arms by Blakers Park, the Lion and Lobster near the seafront and The Better Half in Hove. Details were checked in October 2026. Brighton has a pub on nearly every corner, so treat this as a starting point, not a boundary.
The Signalman, Ditchling Rise
The Signalman, at 76 Ditchling Rise (BN1 4QQ), won Best Brighton and Hove Pub at the 2026 BRAVOs for the first time, and its Sunday roast came seventh in the city. It is a proper neighbourhood local right by London Road station, with cosy corners for winter, two pub gardens for summer and home-cooked food. If you are getting the train to London Road, there is no excuse.
Earth and Stars, Windsor Street
Earth and Stars, at 46 Windsor Street (BN1 1RJ) in North Laine, came second in the pub vote and won Plant Champions, the award for plant-based food, outright. The menu is fully plant-based, the vegan roast has a serious following, and the pub runs on a rooftop solar panel and serves organic drinks, with a small roof garden upstairs. Bring your most sceptical carnivore friend.
The Robin Hood, Norfolk Place
The Robin Hood, at 1 to 3 Norfolk Place on the Brighton and Hove border, was voted the best pub in Brighton in 2025 and third this year. It calls itself a people's pub and gives its profits to local community groups, so every round you buy does a bit of good. Expect craft beer, rotating guest ales, banquettes and board games. The building has been a pub since at least 1866.
The Basketmakers Arms, Gloucester Road
The Basketmakers Arms, at 12 Gloucester Road (BN1 4AD), is the North Laine pub everyone ends up in eventually. It is a Fuller's house, with ESB, London Pride, Gales HSB and Seafarers on the regular list according to the local CAMRA branch, and the walls are covered in old cigarette and biscuit tins stuffed with notes and poems left by regulars. Open one, read it, put it back. That is the rule.
The Evening Star, Surrey Street
The Evening Star, on Surrey Street just below the station, is where the Dark Star brewery began, and it is still the first pint for half the beer drinkers coming off the London train. CAMRA lists two regular beers from Burning Sky plus five changing ones, mostly from microbreweries, along with real cider on handpump. It is card payment only.
The Cleveland Arms, Fiveways
The Cleveland Arms sits on the edge of Blakers Park at Fiveways and came fifth in the 2026 pub vote. It is a community pub with good beer, a seasonal menu and Sunday roasts that placed tenth in the city, and its tables look over the park. Ideal for a slow Sunday after a walk.
The Lion and Lobster, near the seafront
The Lion and Lobster, fourth in the vote, is a historic tavern on a quiet street a few minutes from the sea, with a first-floor Regency dining room serving hearty pub classics and a sunny roof terrace. On a warm evening the terrace is the best seat in the house.
The Better Half, Hove
The Better Half is one of Hove's oldest pubs, recently done up, and serves home-cooked pub classics. It placed fifteenth in the 2026 pub vote, which in a city with this many pubs is no small thing.
A few more for the list
The North Star, opposite the Royal Pavilion, has an outdoor terrace and an open kitchen. Mrs Fitzherbert's on New Road does cocktails and classics with outdoor tables. The Bell Tower on Arundel Road in Kemptown has a big beer garden. The Westbourne in Poets' Corner is a relaxed local with a loyal crowd. All of these are in the 2026 BRAVO pub top 20.
How to pub in Brighton
The two best pub-crawl patches are North Laine, where the Basketmakers, Earth and Stars and the Evening Star are all within ten minutes' walk, and the London Road and Fiveways stretch, for the Signalman and the Cleveland Arms. Hanover, the steep bit east of the Level, has more pubs per street than anywhere else in the city and gets its own guide. Brighton pubs are friendly to dogs, children in the daytime and people who just want to read a book in the corner. Nobody will bother you, unless your dog is cute, in which case everyone will.
