The term ‘local’ denotes ideas of belonging or restricted to a particular area and derives from the Latin word locus, meaning “place”.
We have often been referred to as a ‘locals’ pub, but that narrow geographic restriction doesn’t apply to our locals. Sure, those who do live in the vicinity are locals and do pop in, but, given the size (or lack …) of Salehurst, we’d be pretty quiet if we only had our close neighbours as our customers.
Our ‘locals’ come from Salehurst, yes, and from Robertsbridge, from Hurst Green, Hawkhurst, Flimwell, Ticehurst, Wadhurst, and Battle. They ‘meet in the middle’ when they come from Hastings and Tunbridge Wells. They come down from London. We have ‘locals’ who come back year after year as they have a pitch on the nearby campsites; those who holiday here from far and wide across the UK; and ‘locals’ who live in Belgium, Holland, Germany and France.
If you look around the walls of our pub you will see that all of the art work displayed is by local artists. Some, like David Marsh, more well known – note his wonderful painting over Table 10 that he changes four times a year to reflect the seasons. Then there is art work by one of our chefs, and the majority of art is by the members of the lovely Art group who meet at the Halt every Tuesday night.
Our real ales are all local. We permanently have Harveys on draft, and if you sit on our terrace with a pint in hand you can look across at the fields where the hops are grown to make your Sussex Best. We have guest ales from local brewerys including Lakedown near Burwash, Gun Brewery, Long Man Brewery and others.
The wines we have on offer include those sourced from our sister vineyard, Off The Line; we have had a beautiful sparkling white that has been produced from the grapes that grow on our terrace – you really can’t get more local than that. We have a couple of local gins, White Cliffs is from Kent and we have a guest gin from Merryments, just up the road. Then we have a selection of the scrummy Ringden Farm apple juices on offer for those who are after a soft drink – with no added sugar but bountiful in flavour.
Our chefs are passionate about bringing you fantastic meals, which they fully understand means using the best ingredients available, so they source as much produce as possible from local businesses. Venison from Etchingham, meat from 1066 in Battle, fish from Hastings. Fresh, local, quality ingredients make for a plate full of flavours delivered to your table with a smile.
We are a ‘locals’ pub; our guests come back time and again from next door to further afield; we serve local drinks and cook from local ingredients; we support local community groups; we celebrate birthdays, weddings, anniversaries. We commiserate losses together and check in on regulars if they haven’t popped in for a while.
We think being a ‘locals’ pub is quintessentially what a good, country pub should be and are proud of who we are.
