Bessemer Arms in Lewes

Service was friendly enough and luckily plenty of room for all 8 in my group to sit. However, there was flies everywhere which made it a fairly unpleasant experience. There was also a dead fly in my son's beans. When I took it back, they found more dead flies in the beans 🤢. Disappointed by only 3 choices on the menu, Also, no mention of allergies/what was in the pies. If I had known there was mushrooms in the pie I would not have ordered it.

Worth a snack whilst waiting for the next train out or recovering from the last train ride. Ample room and a good selection of hot and cold food and drinks. Small bar area has a number of pumped ales and a cider. Good atmosphere in the tradition of the times.

Worth a snack whilst waiting for the next train out or recovering from the last train ride. Ample room and a good selection of hot and cold food and drinks. Small bar area has a number of pumped ales and a cider. Good atmosphere in the tradition of the times.

What a great pub to have right on the platform at Sheffield Park on the Bluebell Railway. Very well kept beer in a fun and busy pub. Very friendly and welcoming staff.

Se only popped in for a drink whilst awaiting our train. It served some excellent cask ales. we did not eat as food did not look appetising and was expensive

We have visited here before and had great food, however this time there was a very poor choice and over priced. The choice was sausage chips and beans for £11.50 or 1/4 pound steak burger and chips for £13.50 and we all picked the burger which was very small with some chips and a few salad leaves which was not worth £13.50. I would not recommend eating here based on this visit.

Could be a lot better than it is.

Drinks very expensive we were attending a wedding party was that the reason why??.

Very good service on a busy freakishly warm Saturday, 31 degrees. Excellent bowl of chips and a glsss of Amstel beer for GBP6.40. Very busy. Clean. Toilets fine.

This restaurant is at the Bluebell railway. It serves hot and cold food and drink with a good selection and decent prices. Plenty of seating including a room upstairs.

Very expensive for what choices there are Not a Jolly Place & Gentleman's Toilets not Very Pleasent at all, Thumbs down for me I'm Afraid

Stood around not sure of set up..no menus or cafe instructions..went to bar.. waited to be seen and pointed left for fridge or right hot food counter...chose n had to queue again..🥱 sandwich was mediocre and 330ml coke X 2 . Bit pricey for low quality..glad for snack but wasn't an old fashioned experience I'd hoped for. The hot food looked nice when plated going by...felt very school dinners.

Distinctive old buffet car on the line at the Bluebell Railway

it’s a mixed bag, so to start with the positives - the staff are polite, professional and friendly, the establishment is clean and the location is perfect for travellers on the Bluebell Railway. There’s a reasonable selection of drinks at the bar and sufficient seating for most days. Now to the issues - it’s very expensive - sausage, chips and peas for £12… and that was the cheapest option on the menu! The food quality was okay - definitely not worth the price charged - it’s premium prices but economy products - the sausages definitely tasted frozen and processed. Portion sizes are also quite small, further bringing into question value for money. The kick in the teeth is that there’s no table service for that price, you have to queue up for quite some time and collect your meal from the hot plate. There’s a very limited choice (3 meals) - so it’s not great but with a captive market and no competition at that end of the line it’s given them the freedom to overprice because they know people will still pay. All in all, i’m not likely to eat there again.

The best cheese and ham toasties for miles, lovely place and great staff

Some might not be impressed by the choice of beers (limited) or the menu (just 4 dishes) but as a bar on a preserved railway - great. My draft beer was well kept, the food was tasty.

Really lets the Bluebell experience down. Awful tea and coffee, if you can call it coffee! Tatty soul less place. Won't go in there again.

Absolutely brilliant, highly recommended for a great day 👍

What a disappointment! Had a lovely day with my grandson (7) but when it came to lunch the Bessemer arms was a big disappointment, my husband had meatballs which he said were ok apart from that we had chips and my grandson ended up with a cake. The sandwiches are too fussy (who the hell wants ham and Gorgonzola !) the hot food menu is too small with just over done turkey dinosaurs and chips for kids at £7 ! The staff at the railway are really nice and helpful but not in the pub. The food is very overpriced for what you get so would definitely take a picnic next time and avoid the Bessemer arms

Great place with great food and atmosphere. Right on the platform.

Since COVID, menu has restricted to pretty basic selection, but still good value for money and well cooked.

We arrived at 1.45 to find a choice of beef stroganoff served with dried up old pasta or sausage and chips. This is the third time I have used this cafe and the third time I have been disappointed with the food. Maybe if the choices included an all day breakfast it would be worth eating there. Personally I will not eat there again. Your choices are too narrow and the food is not at all tasty.

A great location with friendly staff. The caveat is, if you come after breakfast has been served, their selection of food is bare minimum. For example, their choices today were: stuffed aubergine, sausage, or beef pasta. That's it. Moral of the story is to come for breakfast, not lunch.

We booked to see the steam lights. Was brilliant.very enchanting going through the lovely woodland displays. Well done Sheffield park. 100%

Had an impromptu Sunday roast beef lunch which was very enjoyable. Would recommend as an enjoyable simple meal.

We stopped here for lunch after time on the railway. The three of us chose the beef roast. We couldn't cut it with a knife, we couldn't bite it with our teeth... it was SO tough. The vegetables were boring and boiled. The yorkshire and potatoes were fine. This disappointing meal was served without a smile.

It’s a shame that when so much effort has gone into the whole Bluebell experience the pub is such a let down. The decor inside is not nice and the food choice small and v basic. With such high prices I regret not bringing a picnic. Also where you stand for the food it’s next to the where staff go in and out so you are in their way and it’s very annoying for everyone. The toilets were clean though.

Nice pub but literally the only one that doesn't allow dogs inside. Would be 5 star otherwise.

Very mediocre overpriced food The chilli looked like a child's portion it was so tiny. Not spicy at all,not a kidney bean in sight and very watery. At £10 this is just not good enough!!!! If your staff are unable to make a decent chilli remove it from your menu at once????? The sausages chips and beans would have been good but I was given cold peas instead as nobody seemed to be able to open another tin of beans! Come on your food is not cheap your customers deserve better.

My parents & I had lunch here during our visit to the Bluebell Railway last Friday. I enjoyed drinking 2 pints of the Langhams Best Bitter, shame Harvey's was'nt on, but this was very nice too. The staff/volunteers were very helpful & friendly & there are lots of interesting railway paintings and other memorabilia to see. All in all, very nice.

A pleasant bar with 'on draft' beer which you can take on the train with you. Excellent and a 'must' visit if travelling on the Bluebell Railway.

This restaurant is not aimed at the gourmet market. It serves old fashioned, well cooked, pub grub that suited me just fine.

Before spending the day seeing the Bluebell Railway, we stopped here for breakfast. good quality, well priced, and a nice atmosphere. Will use again on a future visit to this site.

The least impressive part of a visit to the Bluebell Railway. More of a cafeteria than a pub, underlined by the steel and plastic furniture. Only one bitter on draft today. Uninspiring but not inexpensive hot food served from a cramped corner of the barn like open plan area. Best part was the helpful and cheerful staff who did well in difficult conditions. Probably better to have sandwiches on the train whether in the buffet car ( but only on one of two trains) or byo. Or in summer in one of the pleasant picnic spots.

Before boarding The Golden Arrow we popped in for a pint as 'it would be rude not to'. That is always my excuse. Lovely friendly service with great local ales on tap. Food looked good but as we were eating on the train we forewent the temptation. Plenty of seating inside and out. Sitting outside watching the trains was interesting. Well worth a visit if you are into the old steam era......who isn't?

this Pub(if you can call it that) is FAR FAR FAR too commercialised to such an extent it draws away from what The Bluebell Railway are trying to preserve and is just a cheap moneymaking scheme, when we went in(in august 2019) the entire food menu consisted of Sausage & Chips, Spaghetti Bolognaise, Chilli Con Carne & some weird roast beef thing, thats it, no vegetarian stuff if vegetarians want food here they either have to settle for one of the nice but poor selection of sandwiches or walk 2.5 miles to the next nearest pub in the nearby village, we had a lot of wasps bothering us and the food we got was nice(the wasps cant be helped) but i would NOT reccomend this place to anyone else, if you are planning to go to Sheffield Park on the Bluebell Railway either take food with you or go to the pub 2.5 miles away!

After alighting from a round trip on the railway was looking for a decent lunch and found one here on platform 1. Mainly self-service with a separate queue for cooked food, a good idea as many were going for the “snack” option. Had a delicious steak & Guiness casserole with dumplings, and as they serve alcohol a nice glass of wine, perfect! You can choose between chips or new potatoes and peas or mixed veg at £8.80 I thought was quite reasonable. Clean cafe and staff wiping down etc and not letting dishes pile up...excellent!

My family booked a group of us on the Festive Feast train ride and Christmas meal as it was a big birthday. We travelled first class on the steam train from East Grinstead to Sheffield Park. When we arrived we went straight into the Bessemer Arms for our meal. A warm welcome from the staff. The meal was lovely not piled high on the plate but nicely cooked and plenty of rich gravy. Followed by Christmas pudding and then coffee and mince pies. They also kindly presented me with a muffin with a candle and sang Happy Birthday. All in all an enjoyable day out, good food and at a very reasonable price. We plan to return next year.

More effort could be made to provide a wider range of food than was available - maybe this was just a fluck? There was a hot servers, but not much there. Service was rather slower than when we called by a year earlier when going on the train. There seemed to be a shortage of staff to facilitate table clearing and cleaning.What we rebelled about is the station saying we needed a platform ticket to go across to the restaurant! On your bike we said! So didn't pay.

A very nice steam train day with one of my children and his wife and grandchildren. Starting in East Grinstead and making a stop at Sheffield Park station for lunch, etc. The restaurant is located in one of the station buildings and next to the railway museum. We could sit outdoors right on the platform. Ok ordinary warm food. No table serving.

I had a very good lunch, steak and guinness pie with veg. My friend had the same with a beer which he informed me was great. Bit of a canteen atmosphere but otherwise very enjoyable.

Great place to get food and drink. We had a lovely lunch and afternoon tea. Nice staff.Situated on the platform, so plenty going on all day.

Though visiting the Bessemer Arms is secondary to going on the Bluebell Railway, both at Sheffield Park station, my wife and I bought sandwiches and non alcoholic drinks even though very tempted by the cooked meals available.There is a good range of sandwiches and drinks as well as the cooked meals. A canopy has recently been erected outside the pub and the shop which helps in escaping the somewhat "warm" atmosphere of the pub itself. Prices are very reasonable and the service swift even when busy as there are adequate staff - at least when we were there even mid week.

We haven't been to Sheffield Park Sation for over twenty years but recently heard about this pub there. Feeling the need for lunch we thought we would give it a try and were really impressed. It is professionally run as a part of the Raikway which mainly relies on volunteers. On the day we went, there were five choices of hot food served from a buffet, all looked appetising, our three choices were excellent and very modestly priced.Tables are available in the pub or on the station platform, so steam and people watching is strong attraction but the pub deserves to be judged on its own merits as it outpubs many local hostelries. Access is via the platform, so a platform ticket is required which I understand, but it is a shame because I don't usually expect to pay for entry to a pub if that is my sole reason for visiting. Having said that, the prices are cheap enough to cover the £3 We shall be back