The Heart Hand

Decent boozer in the North Lanes area, with a couple of real ales and as others have said good 50s and 60s music on the jukebox. The clientele seem to be locals in the 30+ age bracket. The exterior is well worth a look attractive and well preserved green tiled walls, with lots of stained glass, although this does mean you can 't see in. Inside, there 's a single room with a bar on one wall, and seating around the walls. The decor is pretty basic patterned carpets, a bit of wood panelling, and cream painted walls, in places covered with lots of posters advertising more 'old skool ' gigs. On my trip the beers were Harvey 's Sussex Best Bitter and Sharpe 's Doom Bar both well kept; they also had Thatcher 's Somerset Cider.

This place is worth coming to have a look at. A lovely old pub with stained glass windows. I suppose the Harveys (and the Juke Box for that matter) was alright, but I just found the pub to be too loud and uncomfortable (with a few annoying punters). To the point where it was a bit stressing. I wanted to like it, honest.

Right in the centre of the Norths Lanes but slightly off the main stretch you'll find the Heart and Hand. Known in Brighton for being a hot spot for bands to booze in, rummer has it the like of Leo Sayer, the Go team and the Cribs have all venue through the doors. Not knowing this however, on entering you may think it was just an old mans pub, and you'd be right. As well as the odd celeb appearance old men can generally be seen propping up the bar amongst the posers with Morrissey quiffs. Its pretty dingy inside, I was given a flat cider to drink and the only food to speak off is frozen pizza which are cooked on one of those old school sandwich maker things. It does have a couple of benches outside though which like all the North Lane pubs are fab for people watching. It has a legendary Jukebox which has such an extensive collection it keeps hordes of Brighton musos drinking in the grub hole.

The Heart and Hand really surprised me the first time went there. If I 'm honest I was expecting a slightly dowdy, maybe even seedy pub. I expected to be met by the stench of beer soaked carpet and the silence of a few old boys propping up the bar. It 's not that my preconceptions were entirely wrong, but the Heart and Hand strikes a fine balance between traditional 'old man pub ' and trendy North Lanes hot spot. It is nice because it is a traditional pub that just happens to be cool, unlike some of the contrived efforts of other pubs/bars in the area. The decor and bar staff are unpretentious and warm and they serve an impressive range of beers, lagers, wine and spirits. The duke box is undoubtedly my favourite thing about this pub- they seem to be few and far between these days...I could honestly spend hours flicking through the records. It 's so much more fun than fiddling about with an ipod! One of the best pubs in the central North Lanes area!

I've walked past this pub so many times on my travels around The Laines and the lime coloured tiles that distinguish it have always caught my eye. I think it was those very tiles that led me to the assumption that it would be a pub occupied by a group of very well established locals, all of whom would still be smoking in there regardless of the law. This all however turned out to be false. Quite small and tidy inside, I met a friend for a Saturday afternoon gin. Sitting outside, I saw friends I hadn't seen for ages popping in for a drink. Looks like the tiles only put me off.