The Crab & Lobster
This ‘little gem’ of a 17th-century pub, run as a restaurant-with-rooms on the harbour, overlooks Pagham Nature Reserve with its black-tailed godwits, little egrets and spoonbills. More
Good Hotel Guide Review
This ‘little gem’ of a 17th-century pub, run as a restaurant-with-rooms on the harbour, overlooks Pagham Harbour Local Nature Reserve with its black-tailed godwits, little egrets and spoonbills. Proprietors Sam and Janet Bakose also own The Halfway Bridge, Lodsworth (see entry). Cottage-style bedrooms with soft pastel walls and fresh flowers also have some structural idiosyncrasies. A spacious deluxe room with ‘plenty of storage and a view over the salt marsh’ has ‘a floor-to-ceiling beam in the middle’, great for pole dancing but it could make ‘night-time visits to the loo a painful proposition’, while a room under the eaves is a bit short on head room. A stalwart reader, on his third visit, reaffirms his advice to choose Room 1. ‘Fish predominates’ on a varied menu with plenty of other choices. This year, ‘squid tempura and chicken croquette, curried cod loin, baked crab and duck were all very good’; a haddock fishcake was heavy on potato. Breakfast brings porridge and ‘perfect scrambled egg’ but sadly, for one reader, no Frosted Flakes to bring out the tiger in him (‘I’d have liked some cereal’). (Peter Anderson, and others)
Hotel details
Address
Mill Lane
Sidlesham
Sussex
PO20 7NB
England
Telephone
01243 641233
Bedrooms
4. 2 in adjacent self-catering Crab Cottage.
Open
all year.
Facilities
bar/dining room/snug, in-room TV (Freeview), terrace, small beer garden, bar and restaurant wheelchair accessible, adapted toilet.
Background music
‘quiet’ music in restaurant and bar.
Children
all ages welcomed, under-9s on extra bed £40.
Dogs
allowed in garden area.
Credit cards
Amex, MC, Visa.
Prices
B&B doubles from £200, singles from £125 (full rates apply Fri–Sun), extra child/adult guest (Crab Cottage) £40. À la carte £42. Min. 2-night stay at weekends.
Other reviews
VisitEngland Five Star Restaurant with Rooms
Good Hotel Guide articles about
The Crab & Lobster
- The Good Pub Guide: 6 top pubs with rooms in Sussex
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