Park Crescent

When I was a student living on the Lewes Road with all it's "delightful" choices of pubs, this was without a doubt my favourite. Minutes away from my door and yet hidden from view, discovering the Park Crescent was like being let in on a wonderful local secret.

Tucked away from the main road it encompasses all that I adore about Brighton, laid back, cool and trendy without any pretentiousness. There is a quality selection of on tap lagers and ales that shy away from the typical Stella variety. If you are looking for a cosy first date or Friday Night drinks then it's great for all, with none of the cringe that can come from straying too close to West Street.

All in all, I recommend all students in the Hanover area make it their local!

The Park Crescent is a corner pub close to 'the Level' park, with a predominantly studenty clientele, real ales and Thai food.

The pub has a single large U-shaped room, wrapped around the bar area. There's also a garden with a smoking area out the back. The decor is fairly standard for the area; part panelled walls, wooden floors and second-hand wooden furniture, and lots of candles, making a decent first impression.

They serve Badger ales, which included Hopping Hare, Badger Best Bitter and Tanglefoot on our visit. Or, rather, they didn't because during the course of the evening both Tanglefoot and Hopping Hare went off during the course of the evening, and the young bar staff, though pleasant and helpful, weren't able to change the barrels. Not a particularly good start.

We tried the Thai food, but were a bit disappointed: the quality was variable, and, compared with other Thai eateries in Brighton, delivered smallish portions; a Pad Thai noodle dish was reasonable enough, but portions sizes of a chicken curry and particularly a stir-fry were disappointing (just three pieces of pork in the pork stir fry, in a glutinous pink goo). Service was friendly, though, and some of the mixed starters others were having looked more generous, so I suspect it depends what you have.

What really put me off, though, were the Gents' toilets, which were simply disgusting (score: 1 out of 10): a smelly, blocked WC with a malfunctioning flush and no lid on the water tank, and urine soaked floors. Not conducive to enjoying your subsequent meal...

A pub has stood on this site just off the Lewes Road since the crescent was laid out by Brighton architect Amon Henry Wilds in the mid 19th century.

Now operated under the auspices of the Indigo Leisure group, with enthusiastic entrepreneurs Ali Charlesworth and Bob Clark at the helm, this is a local pub with a cosmopolitan feel.

There’s a nice range of ales – Badger, Tanglefoot and Pickled Partidge plus Leffe . Double shots of Stoli, JD and Bacardi cost £3.80 a pop and if you can still see straight after that you can play chess, dominoes, backgammon and Jenga.

The music is eclectic, meaning you are as likely to find yourself tapping your toes to Paul Simon as shaking your groove thang to local rockers The Go Team. No food at the moment, but Ali promises mouth-watering Thai delicacies in the near future. I’ll keep you posted.

THIS JUST IN:

The Park Crescent has announced a new Thai Kitchen. The menu includes Green Curry (£5.95); Mixed Seafood (£6.95); Mair Kim's Vegetarian Feast (suitable for two/£9.95) and Pad Thai (£5.50). The pub also serves Sunday roasts.

Nice laid-back local on a quiet street behind Park Crescent. It is quite roomy with high ceilings and clusters of little round tables and stools - basically a good place for a catch-up with a friend. There is a heated and covered patio garden at the back for the smokers. The food is good value: hearty homemade basic pub fare, and they welcome kids to one half of the pub up until 7:30. My only complaint is that the music can occasionally be too loud (but I think that is true for almost every pub and restaurant in the country!)