Elephant and Castle Pub in Lewes

Really grim. I went with 2 other female friends in their 30s. We were in the disco area and the landlord (late 60s, male) kicked me after I touched one of his blow up Christmas display penguins. We weren’t being drunk or rowdy. Other reviews have said that the landlord and landlady have threatened to kick other patrons for random things like talking too loudly. I reported the incident to the police who said what he had done was an assault and I could take him to court. I opted not to go to court instead agreed to receive a written apology from the landlord, but have yet to receive one. Don’t go here - there are WAY better pubs in Lewes. Try The Lewes Arms, The Swan, The King’s Head, The Rights of Man, The White Hart, The Gardener’s Arms, The Brewer’s Arms, The Pelham Arms, The Black Horse, The Royal Oak, The Lansdown Arms, The Snowdrop, The Abyss Microbrewery, John Harvey Tavern. They’re all lovely pubs where you’re much less likely to be assaulted by the landlord.

£31 for two double vodka cokes and an Amstel. RIP off.

Good, friendly pub with a pool 🎱 table.

Brilliant traditional Lewes pub, lovely staff and friendly atmosphere

friendly, cute and generous staff, thank you!!!:)

Spacious pub with decent ales, good time was had by all.

Brilliant local pub. Liz the landlady joined us for a round of Cards Against Humanity. Pool, darts, and more. Fab.

Terrible pub. Slow service. Barely any tables. Ran out of Guinness at 6pm on a Saturday. Clueless business management.

One of my favourite pubs in Lewes. Staff are friendly, beer is good & has a good rotation, food is good. Shows sports, has toads & pool for games. All in all a great pub to visit

Unpretentious and friendly pub next to the castle with well kept beer and decent food. Plenty of on street parking and perfect for soaking up a bit of British culture !

Friendly manager and neat toilet

A lovely and friendly town pub, the e 'fishy elly' fish finger burger is delicious!

Proper boozer with superb ales and enthusiastic staff. We had to extend our QA season just to be sure.... Of course! This one should definitely be on your 'to visit list'.

An ordinary-looking pub from the outside but a very friendly and lively place inside, great bar food and well kept beer!

Slightly out of the centre but it was serving food on 2nd Jan when everyone in the centre was an hour's wait.

Slow service, £12 for jacket potato with beans, 1/4 tin of beans on top. Dreadful

Very good burgers tasted home made Harvey's dark on tap.. old style pub worth a visit if visiting Lewis

Husband and wife owners are incredibly rude. Food is awful, Don’t go here

Terrible pub, don’t go there, overpriced. Owners are very rude and drinks are overpriced. Food is terrible

Very friendly staff good selection of ales

Awful customer service, just wanted some parsnips and more gravy ( 3 roasts and one jug) and a gentleman approached the table spoiling our meal asking us to just let him watch the football! We didn’t even ask to speak to the manager or raise a complaint. Husbands meal then got missed and came 50 mins later. Wouldn’t recommend it 😫

Staff friendly and polite, food options were good and enjoyable

Good lively pub, with Sky and BT sports, loads of TVs and good beer selection. Friendly staff and customers.

Nice well run boozer. Enjoyed my visit with little bro to watch the footie, great atmosphere and service!

Friendly service, four beers on cask and a range to discover in the fridges. Including Buxton and Beak.

Nice old fashioned pub. Harveys

Lovely large pub, really good atmosphere. Shows sports on a big screen, juke box plays some great toe tappers, cool industrial/classic pub vibe. The chairs are reused/up-cycled church benches giving a historic nod to the history of Lewes. There's an immaculate pool/billiards table to play on and dart board, but most importantly there's a great selection of beers, ciders and spirits with seasonal Harvey's selection on tap. Well worth a pit stop for any local or tourist trekking around the hills around Pell's pools!

Good drinks. Bit of a younger crowd (used to be me at 18!) and good place to watch sports. Burgers are really good but the rest of the menu is a bit school lunch like.

We came to this lovely place, Lewes, to visit. After a wonderful walk, we stopped by this pub. From beginning the staff was extremely rude. After showing us the table they brought us the menu and one minute later took it off from our hands . It was 8pm and they said the kitchen was closed. We ordered drinks, 10 minutes later this rude lady came back to us asking if we wanted to order some more drinks. We politely explained that we wanted to order food and drinks but that we were told the kitchen was closed. She said we should leave then, if we were not drinking. This was the worst experience we had in our stay in Brighton and Lewes and probably in the uk. Rude people and bad service, the worst combination for someone running a business in the recreational industry.

...start of a golfing weekend at East Sussex National...watching the rugby...the famous Elly Breakfast Burger...

Good atmosphere. Lovely food, good drinks.

I've been drinking in the ele for many years and it's always been a good place visit for a pint. However last night we popped in in a group of five for a quick pint. At this point I had no idea that singing in a public place was banned by the government as I was trying to remind my friend of an old song. I was approached and told that what I was doing was banned so I apologised and stopped. I then proceeded to tell him the words to the song in the medium of conversation. The member of staff in question rushed back over to my table and threatened to kick me if continued to sing!! I can assure that I was NOT singing at this point. She was antagonistic and arrogant. I won't be going back while she is bringing the place down.

It's a short walk from center of town but a good old pub it's covid-19 friendly there's a good selection of beer and larger staff are good well worth a visit when out and about

A homely family-run pub with a good selection of food and drink! Very friendly owners, a good atmosphere and great food!

Ordered burgers /chips from here tonight...really lovely . Well organised pick up. The most lovely lady (so I don’t know your name)...social distancing on collection etc (apparently- I didn’t collect). Hot. Fabulous...a real treat in lockdown. Thank you so much. Helen

Another lovely visit to the Elly, as always! Great food, burgers, nachos, jacket potato and yummy cheesy chips! Great selection of beers on the bar and some really lovely wines. It’s a great place for watching sports, nights out and just popping out for some lunch.

Busy, friendly community pub with excellent beer and a smashing folk club.

Often busy with eclectic mix of locals, young, old, employed or retired. Great room to hire upstairs for special events. A selection of beers, traditional and craft. Lots of screens for sports if that's your thing. Food is cheap and honest pub grub

Great traditional bar that has a good cask ale offer at reasonable prices. They also have food and music upstairs on ocassions. Staff and owners are really friendly.Definitely worth a visit.

No atmosphere now run by robots!

Great pub, amazing staff and more than happy to change channels for whatever sport may be on. And I think I'm right when I say it's the only pub in Lewes that has sport on TV. Lovely selection of booze and food looked very tasty, big selection of burgers from a local farm which I must try very soon. Will definitely go back again and again

A great pub - excellent food - likeable knowledgeable staff - stunning craft all selection

Lovely pub, pool and sports. Good beer friendly atmosphere.

Great friendly pub good food and loads of seating plus pool table

The best thing about ‘The Ellie’ for a couple of years has been the specialist beer menu, which is maintained by a regular barman who knows his stuff. However, on our last visit, the beer menu was absent so I’m hoping this is a temporary stock issue. One of our companions had the newly stocked lager which was completely tasteless. We also found the older serving staff to be not so much rude as bored and not very welcoming. The younger staff on a different night were extremely cheerful. On a week night, there was a cheesy hits station playing which meant we had to listen to dreadful adverts every few minutes; obviously someone thinks this benefits the atmosphere: it does not. For Sunday lunch, the roast dinner were generally excellent, although the ‘two for £14’ offer seems to have disappeared, which means we’re less likely to go for lunch. One of our companions pointed out that this is also one of those pubs where locals tend to sit in groups at the bar, blocking access to the beer pumps. So if, like us, you’re on a real ale mission, its difficult to actually see whats available. A mixed bag at the moment then - it seems ‘The Ellie’ may have had better days.

Lewes is a great place for people who want to drink in a quiet stylish town

Pleasant place. Interesting beers and friendly staff

Excellent stop off before match good food and great selection of beers

Best selection of beers in Lewes. Lovely staff and great Sunday roast!

Lively, loud and full of people having a proper Friday night out. Great atmosphere and the burgers are great.

Burgers were ok, nothing great but fine. There is also a wider section of foods. Wide selection of beer, including ale, lager and craft beers. Darts, toads and pool table all available.

One of the top pubs to watch sport in Lewes. Under ne management and so far they seem to be making a good start. The food is still of a high standard and it has a great atmosphere when you get a few patrons in

Well it's been stripped out and modernised but it's in a lovely spot and the beers are drinkable. Liked the fact the Ladies had a Wonder Woman picture and Gentlemens had a Batman (should be Superman obviously).

Food was disappointing. The egg was rubbery, the ham was over cooked and the chips were oven cooked.

Great place to watch the rugby .

Nice atmosphere. Very friendly staff

Good location great food and my team won the Premier league

Popular bar that shows many sporting events. There is always a range of real ales available which are changed on a regular basis.

Home of the Commercial Square Bonfire Society? Used to work in Lewes and visited many times, so was looking forward to an Eli burger again. I was not disappointed, neither were the kids! Vegan chilli on nachos, very tasty, 3 different Eli burgers ordered and devoured very quickly. Sadly no fish for the fish + chips, but the chicken Cesear salad was presented beautifully. A good old town pub, lock light and loo roll in the ladies. The pub was spacious and reasonably accessible and very affordable.

Excellent pub serving good food & beer. Hosts folk music every Saturday night - very worthwhile...

Nice choice of ales and general good vibe. Plus only place to watch sports in Lewes

This pub is decent. Nice locals and food (I had a burger) that was massive, tasted good and was great value for the money. Decent beer too, been in a few times and they like to mix up what they are serving regularly.

Nice pub, serving local and international beers, and interesting decor. Don't forget to look up at the ceiling. There's a function room upstairs, which hosts the Lewes Folk Club. Full disclosure, I went there to watch my son perform, but I can confirm that all the people I met were really friendly and welcoming. It was a fun evening with different people singing and playing music. Absolutely recommended. There's a good amount of seating, but you may have to book tickets in advance for some of the more popular performers.

Competitive prices good place to play pool good atmosphere on a Friday night

It is what it is, great place to watch sport on a saturday afternoon. We shared a conversation & a drink with the very pleasant staff. Beer ticked all the boxes.

Once a month there is an Open Space evening in an upstairs room. People have floor spots to sing or read poetry. That's why I'm there! The pub downstairs is very atmospheric and the staff are friendly and efficient. Look out for the stone angels!

My second visit to the Elephant and Castle and just as good as my first visit. I’ve only had the burgers as my first experience was so good I hungered after more of the same. Great size burgers, cooked well and with a large choice of toppings. Great value with the 2 for £14 lunch menu which I think is available every day. Will definitely go back. The staff were friendly and welcoming and the ambience is great also.

The hubby and myself were staying in Brighton for a few days and we had arranged to meet up with some members Brighton CAMRA while we were here.This is one of the pubs we were taken to while in Lewes.Had some really good beers on. Made to feel welcome and is a very friendly pub. Good atmoshere and worth a visit.

Really friendly staff. Good selection of beers in tap and bottled. Great craft beer selection. Good food, especially the famous burgers. Fills up when sport on.

Liked this pub a lot. Good atmosphere.

Very friendly staff and excellent beers

Olde Worldy pub, ran by a very nice guy called Gary.

Just a basic pub, nice beer, went there because husband was born at the Elephant in London

Good selection of ales and numerous TV screens for watching sport. Renowned for its Elly burgers and gets busy on big sporting occasions especially Rugby internationals.

They did a wonderful job for my Mums wake, lovely food and the vases of lilies was a very nice touch and smelt fantastic!

Great pub for pre-match beer and food 😀

Beers are pretty rubbish but otherwise juke box & pool table are cool

Good roasts at decent prices, make sure to order them in advance. Friendly atmosphere and staff as well.

Great find. Tucked away from the high street but certainly worth a visit. Very friend staff and food was great and reasonably priced.

Visited on a recent Saturday morning mainly to watch some rugby on the other side of the world on Sky. Enjoyed our choice of beers from the several pages of listings and also the meals - I had one of their ELLY burgers, came with chips and salad and my partner the fish and chips. Each were a plate full and service was quick and friendly.

Good honest pub. Great beer. Pool and darts available.

I used it for lunch. It was voluminous and very good.

An excellent range of beers provided by a very knowledgable publica (Huw). Good priced food, good Sports pub.

The Elephant and Castle is a good honest pub. They have a large area to eat or drink in. The menu is interesting and the food tastes lovely. It also has the largest selection of Craft Ales which are very scrummy! If sports you’re thing?...they have a few screens to watch what evers on.

Quiet when I visited Friday lunchtime. Opening hours, mon- Thu 11.30-11, Fri & sat 11.30-12, sun 12-11

Good beer.Food ok.Weird interesting décor.

Excellent pub with good beer and food. Recommended, but is very popular with TV screens showing sporting events

Good plateful of food and really tasty but don't come here if you're in a hurry.

Visited yesterday, and glad I did. Had a tasty pint of Oskar Blues IPA, really good stuff! I had the brunch which was delicious, and my husband had sausage, beans & chips :) pub grub, cooked well! We sat round by the pool table, it was nice & bright. Got a few craft beer cans to take away too, fantastic prices, rude not to! Good pub, good beer & good food!

Loved the food couldn't believe it was so quite, friendly staff good selection of real ale.

Good range of ales and food Close to the castle.

Hreat pub to watch the rugby. Accommodated a big group of us well.

One of Lewes' larger pubs, the Elly does most things very well. It is definitely a sports pub which means it can be very busy and noisy on match days, especially for the rugby. The pub is the official headquarters and the spiritual home of Commercial Square Bonfire Society with plenty of memorabilia on the walls - and ceilings. There are usually four ales on draft including Harveys Best, with a generous 10% discount for card carrying CAMRA members. A large selection of craft beers is stocked with prices to drink in or take away. On Thursdays you can drink in for the takeaway prices and the savings can be considerable. The famous Elly Burgers are served the way burgers should be - on a plate with a floured bap. Other pubs should watch and learn. Bar snacks are generous and well priced. There are two log fires and a large function room upstairs which is available to hire

Look, this is not fine dining; this is good basic British pub food well done. Roasts are excellent & generous with plenty of Yorkshire Pud. Burgers (I'm told) are tip-top & English breakfast as it should be (although they should invest in better quality sausages).A decent pint of Harvey's... Who could ask for more? I've only eaten there when Rugby is showing on the big screen so it's a bit mad but the staff keep their good humour.

I always go at lunchtime and and the portions are big and the food tastes good but I've yet to make it back to work on time as it can take nearly an hour to get your food. If you can be patient worth the wait but not if you want a quick lunch.

A very relaxed pub. Traditional long tables. A pool table. The odd bit of crazy decor. Overall a good place to stop off for a pint or two. Or a good venue for a staff party. They can often accommodate large groups. Normal beers, wines and spirits plus pub grub at a reasonable price.

Visited last night for some food and to watch a football game. The food is well priced and decent for what it is, it is pub grub after all. We had a couple of the burgers off the menu and they were good, nice selection of burgers and other food as well.

This is a good local pub that serves well kept beer and reasonable food. It's generally friendly, and there's a great pool table, although you might have to wait a while to use it. There are a lot of screens all over the pub, but that's kind of the point I suppose.

BELTING array of ales etc. behind the bar, friendly service, pool table, good food also operates as an off licence.... What more could one want?!

Nice pub.good ale good food.maybe just a little pricey.but thats Lewes for you.lovely building nice garden