Beer is the new wine

Pub du Vin is a class act, bearing all the quality hallmarks of Hotel du Vin but in a comfier, pair-of-slippers way.

With its cosy snug, impressive selection of cask ales and bottled beers and swish bar it could easily be called Pub de la Bière.

Marylebone Warwick Balfour (MWB) has invested £2.2m in converting the former Sussex Arts Club. The new venue features a bistro/bar for 22 people, a snug room seating a further 12, a spectacular domed function room, which holds 80 people, and 11 bedrooms, which are due to open in the New Year.

The site bears many similarities to its sister hotel, including a similar logo and simple contemporary design. But Pub du Vin also takes plenty of design and content nods from the Fox & Anchor in Clerkenwell, London, which is backed by Malmaison and Hotel du Vin chief executive Robert Cook. Fox & Anchor touches include pewter tankards hanging at the bar, wooden condiment boxes on tables and a strong focus on cask and bottled beers.

Other design features include an elegant wood and metal bar, tan leather bar stools and head-rests, sage-green paint work and a mix of contemporary and vintage pictures of Brighton. The quirky bathrooms include Thomas Crapper toilets and William Holland steel sinks.

So what is Pub du Vin? The owners certainly feel they need to explain themselves on boards inside and out, which read: "So what is Pub du Vin? Some would presume we are a 'pub of wine'. Not so, my learned friends. Imagine a traditional British pub from the award-winning Hotel du Vin brand. Imagine local legendary ales (and stunning wines), simple classic and totally satisfying bar meals with 11 luxury rooms at your disposal, should a taxi home be out of the question. Beer is the new wine — welcome to your new local. In the next few weeks we will be perfecting out pint-pouring, oyster-shucking and knowledge of British gin, so we can offer you only the best."

Beer and wine​

Drinking is a big focus at Pub du Vin and it is clearly not just another of the multitude of gastropubs, where pint-drinkers are distinctly personae non gratae. Apart from the tankards at the bar, there is strong visibility at the bar of bottled beers.

On arrival we were asked if we wanted to drink or eat but in a friendly you-are-welcome-to-do-either way.

The fact that there are seven stools at a bar-style counter, an imposing central bar and a snug complete with open fire, reading chairs and sofas also creates an encouraging vibe for drinkers.

The Pub du Vin website features three beer pumps highlighting the credentials of the new concept, with one stating "local hero, local real ales". This is certainly reflected at the bar, with around 25 beers on offer, including six on cask. Cask beers include Harveys of Lewes, Meantime, Weltons, Hepworth and Dark Star Brewery. Bottled beers feature Rick Stein's Chalky's Bite (£3.20) and staff were able to advise confidently on the beer styles available.

For drinkers looking for a snack, the lower bar counter plays host to an impressive raw bar, with two steel buckets overflowing with seafood such as oysters and lobster on ice. Rock oysters cost £1.50 each, and native oysters £1.75 each.

Other seafood options from the bar include shell-on prawns (£3.50 per half pint or £7 per pint) and Pub du Vin's "plate of the sea" (£25 per person).

Food​

The wooden condiment boxes on the tables include British classics Sarson's vinegar, Colman's mustard, HP Sauce and Tabasco. Cutlery comes wrapped in teacloth-style napkins, which arrive at your table post-food ordering.

Pub du Vin's menu has a strong focus on seafood, with six out of seven starters being fruits of the sea and six out of the nine main courses are fish. The daily seafood special was chargrilled swordfish steak (£12.50). Starters include local fish soup (£4.50); mussels in cider (£6); smoked mackerel pâté (£5), dressed crab (£6), breaded whitebait and tartare sauce (£4) and Springs locally smoked salmon board (£5.50).

We sampled a piping-hot cream of celeriac soup (£4.50) served with three slices of warm bread. The soup oozed flavour and was simply served. A generous plate of breaded whitebait, presented in a steel cone-shaped dish with tartare sauce, was excellent value at £4.

For mains we went for the Sunday roast of roast sirloin beef and all the trimmings (£13.50) and were helpfully and accurately told that the beef would be cooked medium. Trimmings were top-notch, too. Pub classic the steak, mushroom and ale pie (£14) did not disappoint. Served in a quirkily shaped earthenware dish and presented on a wooden board, the light puff-pastry lid gave way to a generous serving of tender beef in a rich ale gravy.

While of high quality, it was slightly disappointing that the pie was served without accompaniments, making it a tad expensive.

Side dishes (all £2) are hand-cut chips, mashed potato, mixed leaf & tomato salad with mustard dressing, spiced boiled carrots and honey roast parsnips.

Other mains were breaded scampi, chips and peas (£11.50); Harveys ale battered fish and chips (£11.50); Pub du Vin fish pie (£12.50); grilled whole plaice, new potatoes & black butter (£14); chargrilled rib-eye steak & chips (£17) and butternut squash & sage risotto (£10.50).

The range of desserts (all £5), maintained the excellent food quality: the apple crumble & vanilla ice cream was served in a rustic, earthenware dish and induced plenty of satisfied crumble mumbles with its chunky pieces of apple and melt-in-the-mouth topping. Also on the menu are treacle sponge & custard, bread & butter pudding and baked egg custard tart.

There's no doubt that devotees of the Hotel du Vin brand will enjoy the more informal but equally well-executed Pub du Vin — a pub perhaps not for your traditional pub-goer but for the Hotel du Vin-goer.