Worthing is a seaside town in West Sussex, just one county over from us and reachable by car in around half an hour. In early March 2020, as the rumours of potential cancellations of our booked cruises for the year started to strengthen but before there was any real indication that the country itself was going to fall so swiftly to the presence of the virus or the mismanagement of the problem by the government, we booked a couple of nights away so that we’d have some sort of break if we couldn’t get out to and onto the sea as planned. Being so close we could also simply drive down on a Friday night after work, spend the following day in the town, then return on the Sunday without using up any holiday allowance.
We chose Worthing not just because of its convenient closeness but also because we’d never visited it before, but we knew that in terms of attractions options were going to be limited. Therefore, since we also like drinking, we decided that we’d make the focus of the day a pub crawl. We’re British and it’s an activity close to our hearts. In addition to a stroll around the pubs we’d also have time to see some of Worthing’s street art plus venture out onto its pier as we made sure to get in a good seaside walk while we were there too.
Let’s start with the Friday night.
We stayed at the Chatsworth Hotel as it ticked a few boxes: near the seafront; fairly quiet location; in easy walking distance to the town centre and to the car park we’d need to use. It was a perfectly fine hotel with nothing outstanding but no problems whatsoever either. You don’t get to be a blogger of the travel variety like me without knowing that people just fall over themselves for those sweet, sweet pictures of hotel rooms and bathrooms – what with people being fundamentally odd – and, while it’s true that I often disappoint, I won’t in this instance.
The first order of business after checking in was to find somewhere to eat as we hadn’t done so before leaving home. There is a restaurant attached to the property on the seafront but we walked past that about fifty metres or so to see if we would be able to get a table at Casa Ciro instead since it was Italian and that’s one of our preferred types of cuisine when dining. A bit of a risk with this being a Friday night and us not having booked ahead but we got lucky and were seated for a meal that, just like our hotel, was perfectly fine, especially when factoring in the price; nothing fantastic again but no complaints from us either. What was very nice was the complimentary shot of Limoncello each. I don’t know if that’s something they do for everyone or just once you reach a certain threshold of spending.
After food we decided to get our bearings in the nearby town centre area and kept an eye out for any interesting-looking pubs. Our plan for crawling around some of the pubs the following day involved some more out-of-the-way locations but this first evening was just about settling in and sticking closer to the hotel. We ended up having drinks in three establishments, choosing them primarily based on how busy or attractive they looked along with how cold the wind was making us feel. The first of the pubs we visited was the Libertine Social, the second was JB’s Bar, and the last stop was at the Beach House, but I can’t say we were wildly impressed with any of them.
And now for Saturday.
For as much as we like to hit pubs we’re not raging alcoholics and try not to head straight for them after breakfast (depending on how late we get up, of course) so took some time out early in the morning to hit the local shops in case there was something exotic in Worthing that couldn’t be found in Portsmouth (spoiler: no) and to take a look around the local museum. The museum was worth the visit although I didn’t take any photos inside. In a small garden area at the rear I spotted a sculpture which I recognised as being by Philip Jackson, having seen some of his pieces at an exhibition in Chichester called Sculpture in Paradise. This particular piece was called Sior Maschera (or Masked Man).
Of more interest to my camera-clicking finger was some of the architecture along the short walk and some of the street art we stumbled upon. The following two photos show two lovely Art Deco buildings. First up is the Connaught Theatre. Built in 1914 and originally the Picturedome cinema it was extended in the 1930s during which time it acquired the classic Streamline Moderne façade and became a venue for theatre instead.
Not as gracefully flowing as the theatre but still in the streamlined style was the place for all your Sussex-based beds needs on Chapel Road. This large building had formerly been a branch of Caffyns Garages in the late 20s or early 30s and was damaged during air raids in 1940.
Where Chapel Road and North Street meet in Worthing there is a roundabout and under that is a subway for pedestrians in order to cross the busy junction. Inside there we discovered a public street art gallery showing off some very nice designs indeed.
As we made our way towards the seafront now we passed another building with some notable architecture from Frank Morris, Worthing’s Borough Architect at the time, who, like me, was fond of concrete. All the best people like concrete. The Law Courts building dates from 1967.
With the end of our in-town activities completed we commenced our walk along the beach that would lead into the pub crawl for the rest of the day. The very start of this walk coincided with the location of Worthing Pier and, as regular readers will know, we do like a pier. We were therefore obliged to stroll down its length and subject ourselves to the strong and biting wind adding to the already fairly cool day.
The original pier, laid down in 1861 and the thirteenth seaside pier to be built in England, was only 4.6 metres wide but proved to be so popular that in the 1880s this was doubled and additional structures were added for the enjoyment of visitors. The first moving picture show to be seen in Worthing was on the pier in 1896.
The style of the pier that stands today and which has won Pier of the Year status on two occasions is, again, Streamline Moderne Art Deco (Worthing is fond of it, and who can blame Worthing?) which dates from the 1930s. This came about as a result of two rebuilds following storm damage in 1913 then a very destructive fire in 1933. An even wider pier would allow more of that classic pier architecture to be seen more easily but it’s still a lovely sight to behold so if you do visit this West Sussex seaside town then make sure to take yourself down the pier to admire those long horizontal lines and sweeping curves.
We walked along Worthing beach westwards on first Marine Parade then West Parade promenades. That wind nipping at us kept the walking pace pretty brisk which we like to think of as caloric-burning ahead of the drinking to come. On a clear day the view out to sea would have been decidedly more appealing but for this walk it was a little drab and not helped by the churned up silt and sand turning the water even murkier than it would have been under the leaden sky. Seafront buildings began in the Victorian style – many likely now hotels – before giving way to more modern blocks of flats. Eye-catching structures along the beach itself were limited to a few shelters and some beach huts notable for their lack of visual appeal more than anything else.
The walk along the beach was a little bit short of two and a half kilometres in length and took us to the border of Worthing with Goring-by-Sea. Towards the end of this stretch along the West Sussex coastline there was another example of that gorgeous Art Deco style to gaze upon as well as some more modern buildings, and a small beach garden area with some boards, rocks, and twisted driftwood sculptures provided a break from the monotony of the sea view.
Let the pub crawl commence!
We’d walked as far as we had because the first pub we were most interested in visiting happened to be this far from the main part of town. That pub in question was the Georgi Fin Micropub. In fact, as micropubs go, this was one of the largest ones we’ve visited. We like micropubs a lot. I like real and craft ales, and my wife tends to prefer ciders, and these are the sorts of places that excel in providing those where the big chain pubs often do not. With this being the pub we were keenest to see, with us having walked this far, with it being very nice inside and with a good range of drinks, and with one of those being a raspberry and coconut chocolate stout that absolutely demanded our tastebuds’ attention we were obliged to stay for two.
The second pub on our crawl was the Green Man Ale & Cider House (which I’d ordinarily link to because I’m nice like that but at the time of writing it contains a tracking redirect on its site so I won’t because I’m nice like that too). You already know we like ale and cider so this sounded perfect and it pretty much was. This was more the size of micropub we’re used to and it had loads of drinks options. You can also see that it was rammed with people which is a good sign that it’s a great place to have a drink, although that was mostly because Worthing were playing at home that day not far from the pub and these were people keen to have a drink before attending it. To start with it was standing room only for us until some of the people left for the game but as seats became available we plonked ourselves down and ended up chatting to a couple of locals. Great range of ales and ciders plus friendly patrons made for a winning combination. And Worthing won 4-2 on the day too.
The Brooksteed Alehouse was the third pub we visited in Worthing on this Saturday. This was a cosy little pub with a fair selection of drinks but the standout feature was a toilet with a blue plaque commemorating its opening by actor and comedian Kevin Bishop in April 2018.
On our way to the next pub we passed by the Worthing headquarters of Lemo UK, a 2010-built modern structure designed by Swiss and British architects, and something that stands out considerably from the buildings around. I generally like the design but there looks to be little consideration for the environment it’s in.
Pub four of the crawl was the Selden Arms where I had my third stout of the day – it was that sort of day, temperature-wise – with this one being a fudge stout to follow on from the chocolate one in the pub prior to this.
The fifth pub was so nice inside, mostly because it had a fire on. Up until this point all the locations along our Worthing pub crawl had been really quite cold with the reason being that some were brewing on the premises and some were storing kegs in the main bar area and needed to keep them cool. The sorts of pubs we visit do suffer from this drawback when the days get shorter but it’s a small price to pay in the grand scheme of things. This was the New Amsterdam.
In case you’re wondering whether we ate at all during this trundle through pubs then wonder no more because we sought out a place doing food for pub six to address this important issue. Pub six ended up being the Rose and Crown which was a bit cramped (or popular if you prefer), felt a little bit dated, but had friendly staff, did adequate drinks, and allowed me to try a type of fish I’d never had before, skate. I can’t complain about the food or drink at all but I will say that skate isn’t going to feature too highly on my Tasty Fish list. Everyone has a Tasty Fish list. Don’t try to deny it.
Pub seven was somewhere we’d seen the night before late in the evening but which hadn’t been open. It’s difficult to not notice Anchored in Worthing on account of its TARDIS doors to enter. Like some of the earlier pubs on this crawl, this was a proper micropub: a single room, low ceiling, small capacity, with lots of new ales to consider. We walked in to a buzz of conversation that immediately stopped as we stepped through the door. Puzzled looks from everyone – us included – was then explained by all the locals expecting someone else to come in. After that momentary you’re-not-from-around-here atmosphere it all got very friendly, though, and the small venue made it easy to duck into and out of chats going on. Lovely place.
A short walk brought us to pub eight, The Whisk(e)y Rooms, which only appeared to be one room despite its name and a very crowded one at that. We were able to squeeze into a tiny spot by the window and thought that since we were in a bar with the word “whiskey” in it we’d try out a cocktail. Don’t try to analyse the reasoning behind that. A fun little boutique bar.
We thought we might be able to get one more pub in so headed down to the seafront where pub nine had caught our eye earlier in the day. Bar 42 (or Forty Two; there doesn’t seem to be any consistency in the spelling) was spacious and orange so it had that going for it. It also had a disco so if you like discos then there’s that too. People-watching was easy to do, so also a positive. Where it was let down was in the drinks range for our tastes so while it might have a lot to offer other people we made do with a quick bourbon and coke each and left fairly quickly.
With more time left in the evening than we’d expected following our swift visit on the seafront we made a decision to take in one more place before calling it a night. We hadn’t intended visiting the Rocking Horse because it was a cocktail and wine bar but it ended up being the tenth pub on our Worthing pub crawl due to its proximity to our hotel. We opted for cocktails and, yes, that’s mine served in the shark.
So that concludes our short visit to Worthing and the things we discovered in town and on the walk along the beach ahead of the pub crawl. While Worthing as a whole didn’t have much to offer the casual visitor we personally enjoyed the street art and the modern and art deco architecture that we found a lot. Worthing’s pubs were plentiful and the micropubs in particular were excellent so if you’re a real or craft ale or cider drinker then I’d recommend a stay similar to us just for that reason alone.