John Harvey Tavern in Lewes

Best pub in Lewes. Nicest staff by far. Not pretentious at all.

I have just had the most appalling ham, egg and chips! Had to return meal as eggs rock hard, the plate I think had been left under heat lamp, not freshly cooked! Have been going there for years and have never experienced this before, even my husbands fish and chips was certainly not the fresh traditional cooked food! Shame, no apology! Not wasting my money there again!

Visited here a number of years ago , still hasn't changed with the great atmosphere 👌

Didn't have food. Just a drink. Nice pub. Good atmosphere. Nice staff. Good selection craft beers. Well worth a visit.

Wonderful pub, food however disappointing. Boyfriend asked for steak and kidney pie but was given chicken and veg without any sauce in a pie! Fish and chips was disappointing, not properly cooked and the fish juice made the chips really soggy. However will return for a drink as the atmosphere was very welcoming and pleasant.

I like it here, friendly staff, nice atmosphere but most importantly excellent beer!

Best place on earth for fantastic Ales and the biggest sausage rolls I have ever seen.

Please change your food times on your website, to avoid disappointing visiting customers. I'd made a special trip to eat there and sample Harvey's excellent beers as the kitchen is advertised as open until 9, but on a Friday evening before 8:30 the kitchen was shut! So a walk was needed to other pubs selling Harvey's and food elsewhere

Lovely friendly staff and a smashing pint upstairs.

I have a weak spot for this pub, being the first pub I ever visited in Lewes. It's in a great spot in the centre of town & being the Harvey's pub has all the expected Harvey's beers on tap. Staff have always been friendly here & the food is worth trying. Overall would recommend a visit

Nice taproom with an excellent range of cask beers from Harvey's brewery, which is literally across the road. Didn't try the food, so can't comment on that.

Very good venue, excellent Harvey's beers and good food.

A proper traditional pub oozing character. The place to go when visiting historic Lewes and in need of a pint! Excellent range of Harvey's ales. The pub food at lunchtime and in the evening was very good and reasonably priced. Friendly staff. Lots of events on too, throughout the week. Look forward to going back.

Nice local pub. Great friendly service. Wharf IPA is a lovely beer. Nice ambience about the place.

Great Lewes Pub serving great Harvey's beer - Old is still available

You won't find fresher Harvey's beer anywhere else

Pleasant evening drinks with friends

Friendly staff. Great beer. Proper old fashioned pub

We were a party of 5 people and we pre booked selecting from the Christmas menu so the restaurant knew our order in advance. The front of house got the date of the booking wrong twice and we had twice to give our pre-orders. No- one had ordered a starter. Nonetheless we then had to wait at least 40 minutes for the main course to arrive. When it did, two of the advertised items from the Christmas dinner, pigs in blankets and stuffing, didn’t appear. The standard of the meal was about what you’d expect from from one of the budget carveries, everything smothered in a thick gravy. As the plates were being cleared, I asked the waiter if our desserts would be long, explaining that we were under time pressure, and he replied that they were then being plated up. After a further twenty minutes I asked a member of staff what was happening with them and said that we’d been told that they were almost ready twenty minutes ago. I added that we’d been sat for ninety minutes and so far received one course, despite the kitchen knowing our order in advance, and I felt this wasn’t good enough. After some minutes he reappeared and said that they had just started to prepare them, which typified the muddle and confusion we’d experienced. At this point we expressed our dissatisfaction and said that we’d have to forgo the dessert due to time constraints. It was agreed that we would pay for drinks and mains, but at no stage were we offered any reduction or comping. Upon examining the bill it appeared that we’d been overcharged for the mains but we were told that the price given for the mains was in error and that we’d been charged a higher price than appeared on the bill. No apology for this error on their part was given, nor indeed for any of the muddle or non- appearance of listed menu items.

Ale, as expected, was perfect. Only had sausage roll and loaded chips to eat; they were fantastic. Best chips ever!!

Superb, spot, no one serves Harvey's like this place, the staff are the absolute best, super friendly.

I had a fantastic experience at this pub! The customer service was top-notch, and the drinks were excellent. Highly recommended!

The worst food I have ever seen and tried to eat. Harvey’s should be ashamed to be associated with a kitchen this bad. Bar staff and beer great

Went for a Sunday roast last week … absolutely brilliant . Meat was lovely well cooked and presented. Staff were lovely and will definitely be booking for Christmas.

My husband and I always know that a real Sunday roast is a John Harvey Tavern roast. Today we chose our favourite being the classic beef and it was cooked to perfection alongside crispy cooked vegetables and delicious roast potatoes. A big thank you to the lovely landlady and her staff, a jolly super job.

my friend and i had a lovely sunday roast, the lamb was amazing as was the beef, the food came quickly and the staff were very attentive. will definitely be returning!

After visiting Lewes Castle we were a bit peckish so walked down the high street and found the John Harvey Tavern. It's sort of hidden away on a side street, but we're glad we found it. My husband had wanted to try some of the Harvey beers, so this was perfect for him. We ordered sandwiches - a pork sausage sandwich for him and a falafel and halloumi sandwich for me. Both were enormous and came with a generous serving of chips. Great value for money!

What happened to this place? Food use to be great the super generous portions. Today we waited 40 minutes for our food, and the wait really wasn’t worth it. Uncooked chips, very measly portions and hugely overpriced, bill came to £140 for 6 adults. They even forgot my sisters order of bangers and mash so we had to wait for that to arrive which eventually was also rank. Give this place a miss.

Came here as a group for lunch- enjoyed some nice Harveys drinks- old, best & pilsner. Food was ok- had crunchy calamari, ok burger & nice Bakewell tart. Food service however was awful- barmen took orders from across the room, was rude, service slow, plates wasn’t cleared and cutlery & sauces only brought out on request. Recommended for a drink out in Lewes however.

Great location, friendly atmosphere, food and drinks are delicious, staff are so friendly and helpful.. Will visit again, recommended..

Awful and overpriced, tiny halloumi burger and chips £15 !!! The chips were rock hard and the burger was smaller than the palm of my hand, one slice of tomato and one slice of onion. The picture on the left is halloumi burger, the one on the right is from my local today. Goats cheese lasagne, focaccia bread and side salad £14.50. See pictures below. Won't visit John Harvey Tavern again.

Visited the John Harvey Tavern on Thursday. As it is regarded as the Brewery Tap, it was no surprise that the beer was top notch. A pint of Olympia was excellent, so I thought the food must be good. So quickly ordered a steak and ale pie and another pint, this time of Armada. The food was excellent, too. Good chunks of beef in the tasty pie. Again, this pint was also top-notch. Therefore, rather than mess around finding somewhere to eat a few days later for Sunday lunch, I thought I must book the JH Tavern there and then to have a Sunday roast. Just eaten it. So pleased. It was wonderful. Excellent beer again. Good portions of meat and veg. The beef was well cooked, slightly pink, and good-sized slices. The roasties, broccoli, carrots and other veg were very good but the creamy leek... wow!! ...lovely. 10 out of 10. You can't go wrong with this place. I'll be back.

Today we waited an hour and ten minutes for food. After 45 minutes yes barman said it will be 10 minutes after an hour and ten it still hadn’t come. Got our money back but no real apology. All the fault of the kitchen apparently. Clearly barman couldn’t care less. If you are too busy don’t offer food. Won’t be coming here again. Can get Harvey’s beer elsewhere

I ordered a starter and main course which arrived together. The fish was half the size I would have expected for the £16 price tag. The beer was expensive at £5.10 a pint (Sussex Bitter) Won't return, I'm afraid

Always a great pint two pints of Harvey's porter absolutely fantastic a tripvto Harvey's brewery shop as well to stock up on Christmas beer

Wonderful beer and the best pie (steak and mushroom) sooo good really nice staff also. Really worth a visit!

A total rip off. We ordered two Ploughman’s Lunches, having been very happy with the same meals in the same location a couple of years ago. For £12 all we received was a small lump of cheese, a single slice of ham, half of a small baguette (if that), a sliver of gherkin, a single small pickled onion, and a dessert spoon of coleslaw and pickle, topped off with a few strands of rocket! It wasn’t worth half the value that we paid. We did tell the staff that we expected more, all they said was ‘we’ll feed that back to the kitchen’. No hint of apology, a larger helping or a refund! Very disappointing after being very impressed a couple of years ago. I accept that things have changed over the last couple of years, but this was a total joke and shameless profiting.

Simply wonderful staff. So nice to see staff with a smile and a sense of humour. The food was just lovely. We went for the sausage and mash. The sausages were really nice...none of this supermarket own brand stuff. Fresh mash and lovely gravy. I...

Absolutely love this place, food is great and beer is top notch and bar staff are pleasing on the eye too which is odd for lewes as usually the bar maids would beat you in an arm wrestle. Going there again at next opportunity

I’m sorry to have to agree with previous reviewers who write about rude and miserable bar staff. I’m assuming the hostile barman yesterday is one of those in question. Service was chaotic and unacceptably slow in bringing two baguettes to the table. For a Harvey’s...

Some friends and l came here after a walk on the Downs. It is a traditional Boozer with a good selection of Harvey ales. The staff were friendly, even taking a picture for us. I had the ploughman's lunch, which was pleasant, although you could...

Extremely disappointed - firstly, rude barman who misunderstood something and jumped down our throats - I corrected him. Secondly, no starters on menu and limited roasts on menu if you don’t eat red meat. Roast potatoes hard and not homemade, Yorkshires frozen and not homemade...

Love this place, always pop in when in Lewes for a pint. It's a pub pub. If you know what I mean!

Honestly wouldn’t go back ever, the most miserable bar staff, had food brought out by a guy that looked like a painter and decorator in filthy clothes, the chef should be ashamed of what was sent out, totally unseasoned steak, the peppercorn sauce looked like...

Nice pub, across the road from the brewery. Harvey's Best bitter in barrels at the back of the bar. Good bar service, decent beer and wine. On the night we were there, they had a problem finding food menus. Having ordered the food, I would say it was OK, not great, just OK. But the bar service was good and I'd go back there.

A busy pub, with a good atmosphere. There weren't many gins on offer. I had a house gin and my boyfriend had cider. People around us had food, which looked good.

We ordered roast beef and were seated in the upstairs room. We waited over half an hour so my husband went to find someone to ask where our meal had got to. The meal then arrived almost instantly, as if it had been plated some...

Had the best evening. There was some live music which was so much fun. Some great vegan food. And the staff were so cheerful and kind. Place was fun and welcoming.

I loved the JHT. Really easy going pub and a sun trap outside in the spring and summer. Loads of room inside and the staff are charming and funny. The beer is Harvey's of course and you can get brews not available in other Harvey's...

Been in a good few times . Massive shame they are Never open to there opening hours online Staff are brilliant when they are open, Manager is hardly ever there and when she is all she is doing is free lancing around, don’t think Iv...

I always have to pop in for one or two pints when I visit Lewes Fantastic beer !

We come here quite often and love it. However my wife and I had the prawn sandwich today and couldn't taste the prawns at all and overall it was very bland with no seasoning.

Was very disappointed with the portion size that we all received. For to price i think 3 little roasts and a small about of beef was not really acceptable. The wait time was fine and it really wasn't busy so no excuses. When you pay...

Dropped in to this pub for a sandwich on a quiet lunchtime and was very impressed. I had a fish finger sandwich which was delicious. Bacon and Brie sandwich was also very appreciated. Nice buzz in the main bar. The environmental nature of the brewing...

Staggeringly rude barmaid. Her colleague was fine but gosh, she should not be in customer service. Will never go there again.

In Lewes for the day and stopped here for fish & chips. Good sized portion of locally caught Cod with chips and a good selection of local Harveys beer, reasonably priced and friendly staff. On a good day you can make use of the outdoor...

We had a lovely Sunday lunch at The John Harvey Tavern, the staff were so friendly and helpful, the food was delicious and arrived quickly, we all had a lovely time. Would highly recommend ❤️

Visited for a couple of pints with friends. Bar staff looked irritated when I ordered a pint. Zero warmth, eye contact, banter. They were openly moaning about the length of their lunch breaks in front of customers. Crappy music in the background. The atmosphere would...

Lovely pub in lewes. I have been going there for many, many, many years!!!

The best pub to sample Harvey’s beers. The fish and chips was very tasty and the sausage rolls on the bar are always delicious.

For years this has been my regular place to rendezvous with friends before Brighton home matches. On Saturday we had a delicious lunch and great Harvey’s beer. Service was perfect from Alan, Chloe & Tamsin. Thank you! See you again soon.

Swung by yesterday for an improptu lunch. Brilliant service, great food and as ever a top pint! Pie was well made and was completely full, wonderful gravey on the side. Sausage and mash for my partner, which she thoroughly enjoyed as well. Even after the...

The menu isn't extensive but we had an excellent meal. The Fish and Chips was fabulous, the beer was perfectly served and a fantastic range. The new manager was really lovely and obviously working hard to make a success of the the pub. We will...

A delightful Sunday roast for the whole family. We were made to feel very welcome, the food was great and staff were very engaging and attentive. Top marks.

Wow, what a great experience. Visited with a couple of friends and had a terrific roast and super beer. Chloe, chef and host, was very friendly and hospitable. Will definitely be back.

Shocked and Shocked Filthy dirty, floors food, yables not wiped.. The toilets hairs dirty everywhere. Hoping double standards and kitchen clean!! One drinks left

First, I was very impressed by the beer, well kept and beautifully poured by efficient staff. However, they weren't welcoming, and the male server exhibited signs of stress every time he had to deal with customers, which didn't improve the ambiance. I was definitely not...

Me and my wife have been here twice for Sunday lunch the food is fantastic pork belly is our favourite dish Tamsin the new manager has really turned this pub round to serve excellent food and Harveys beer is the best in town we was...

Can’t thank the staff enough for looking after us so well last night. There were 4 of us and 6 dogs so we were a noisy bunch but they were so friendly and looked after us all really well. Very glad we made the last...

Good beer, excellent menu with friendly staff and great food. Enjoyed a relaxed lunch and the portions are generous so you don't leave hungry. We will eat here again.

Called in for a drink, nice place to be. Plenty of room upstairs.

Came in for a family get together and a catch up after Christmas. The pub was busy around 4, and even as hectic as it was the staff were still amazing. The girl behind the bar who was facing it on her own for awhile...

Tucked away in a Lewes side street near to Harvey's Brewery.. looking a bit tired, as was the menu. A smile from the staff would help!

First visit and staff lovely, ambiance brilliant and food (pie of the day - steak, ale and mushroom) with mash and garden peas was superb. Service brilliant too, THANK YOU!

Nice pub with great beers and good food.

A lovely olde pub that serves great Beer! However, when we went had to ask for a replacement pint as the Harvey’s tasted foul. Despite this, good interior, comfortable surroundings. Unfortunately food leaves a lot to be desired, basic pub grub done to the bare...

great food been going there for years, would recommend

All you could need from a family friendly pub, Great friendly helpful service, food arrived quickly and was delicious!! JHT burger was amazing. Reasonable priced too. Good atmosphere. All round a really pleasant visit.

Shocking food, rude service and filthy function room. Toilets are a disgrace. A really unpleasant place - avoid at all costs.

Visited for lunch and ordered the burger with fries and fish and chips. Both meals cold and tasteless. Such a shame as this pub has real potential.

Excellent old pub with loads of character. We enjoyed our meal here. Proper grub and triffic service from our waitress. Great beer as well what is not to like. We enjoyed the Harvey shop also plenty of beer , wines and Merchandise to choose from.

Nice staff. Men. More bar staff than waiters. But pleasant. Good beer. Food was dreadful. Whitebait starter - 10 whitebait on a plate. All stuck together. Tartare sauce - which we had to ask for - in a sachet. Goat cheese tart - soggy, tasteless,...

Lovely little pub in one of our favourite towns, Lewes! We popped in for the first time after a long walk on the malling down. My partner said the lager was cold, and much needed. And I was impressed by their great selection of ales...

Lovely pub, really friendly and helpful staff and a warm atmosphere. The bar manager Tamsin was very welcoming and accommodating. Would recommend this pub, this is our new favourite for when we visit Lewes!

This place is really lovely, amazing atmosphere, first time visiting, all the staff are so friendly and helpful, never felt more welcomed in an entirely new pub and seemingly a lot of friendly locals here which must mean they’re doing something right! Great selection of...

Extremely rude and very aggressive staff that spoilt what should have been a nice day out for everyone. I personally witnessed the bullying by staff of two pensioners who had complained to a girl serving behind the bar who was actually rude to them. At...

They weren't doing food due to lack of a chef, said the barmaid. it's a familiar story these days. Lager was cold and welcome in sweltering heat outside. The tables could have been cleaner. It's not as if they were busy.

Lovely place to sit. Friendly staff. Visited the John Harvey brewery shop beforehand.

뭘 마셔야할지 고민하니 친절하게 3잔 고를수 있는 메뉴를 추천해주면서 각 맥주별로 자세히 설명해주셔서 좋았습니다. 파인트 한잔 가격과 같아요. Sussex best, olympia, pilsner 마셨는데 필스너가 가장 좋았어요. 사진찍는다니 얼른 비켜주시는 ㅎㅎ

Great prices, food and service. Couldn't fault it.

Set outside but not much space there. Pub grub with great

My folks own a nearby Seaford. We have been to this pub a few times and every time it has been great. They have a good selection of the local Harvey Brewery ales and a lovely pilsner The food is great pub grub with massive...

Called in for a swift drink when visiting Lewes as part of walking the South Downs Way. Ended up staying for several as I wanted to try all of the Harvey’s offerings! Sussex Best is the best (in my view) but the others available are...

Directly opposite the Cathedral of brewers is the Chapel of beer. Poured straight from the keg the beer is superb, and to help keep your strength up, the food is scrumptious.

What a nice pub. Delicious foot with veggie /vegan options. Very helpful and friendly staff who go out of their way to help. Good size meeting room and private function room.

Menudo platazo que nos comimos en este sitio. La atención ha sido muy buena y hemos estado muy agusto en la terraza para tomar la primera pinta.

Stopped for lunch, Cod and chips and squid and chips. Delicious. Super service from the waiting on staff and it's cheap for Lewes. Superb ales too. Highly recommended

Visited for a function in the upstairs dining room. Excellent food and top service from the staff. Good selection of ales in the bar down stairs !

Absolutely fantastic pub .... Loads and loads of historical atmosphere

Lunch with an old friend, at the JHT. Thought we would get there early, at 1200, but it was already busy and buzzing, a great atmosphere. Superb Harvey’s best, the smaller fish ‘n’ chips, which was huge, and a great steak, chips, onion rings, mushrooms...