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Hare and Hounds, London Road
Image reproduced with permission from Brighton History Centre
Hare and Hounds, London Road, 2004
Photo by Mike Snewin

Comments about this page

  • My father, George Bath, used to stand up and sing on a Saturday night in the early to middle fifties. Does anybody remember him at all? I would like to hear from you if you do.

    By Vic Bath (20/01/2005)
  • Don’t remember your Dad but I do remember the lady who used to play the piano on Saturday nights. Good old days!

    By A. Lock (14/06/2005)
  • This has the date 1905 above the top sign which reflects its rebuilding after the original was removed when they laid the tram lines across Preston Circus at that time. The first H&H was the oldest building in London Road and probably dated from the end of the 18th century when it lay on the Brighton and Preston parish boundaries and was the first Brighton tavern encountered on the London Road. This road had been re-routed from the Dyke Road as they sorted out the drainage problems in the main London Road valley. So the first H&H dates from about 1790.

    By Geoffrey Mead (27/02/2006)
  • I used to work here during 1998 & 1999. I was an Australian visiting and made Brighton, and the Hare & Hounds, my home. Many a fantastic time was had – my boyfriend/husband, Gaz, used to run the trivia comp on a Sunday. I made many a friend there during the 2 years in Brighton. Anyone know what happened to Trev, the landlord? Big tall guy, shaved head.

    By Katie (10/04/2006)
  • My great great Aunt Bessie Light married Edmund Drew who was publican of the Hare and Hounds about 1920. Edmund was an optician and had previously been publican of the Russell Arms about 1901.

    By Geraldine Lewis (24/10/2007)
  • If you are at Churchill Square
    Get on a 5a or a 5b away from town
    That will take you to Preston Circus
    Where you will enjoy the best pub in town
    Hare and Hounds, Hare and Hounds
    Best pub in town

    Hare and Hounds, Hare and Hounds
    Best pub in town
    La la la la——-la la la la

    There is a great management team
    in Darren and Julie
    If you know what I mean
    Bar staff include Chelsea Paul
    He is cool
    Keith a great relief
    Who gets stick from me for not chatting up the
    barmaids who fancy him usually
    The barmaids are pretty and have personality
    Cayling is in that cateogry she is talented definetly
    Chorus: Hare and Hounds best pub in town etc

    There is more to come on this song later.

    By Philip Wright (11/03/2008)
  • My wife’s mother was fostered by the sister of Edmund Jury Drew who was landlord of the Hare and Hounds. I have a lot of information on the Drew family who were all very active in the Licensed Victuallers Trade in Brighton. Edmund Drury Drew died on the 23rd August 1931 when at 9.30 am he fell from the bathroom window onto the yard at the rear of the Hare & Hounds. I have newspaper cuttings of the event and funeral.

    By Dudley Procter (04/09/2008)
  • Would be most interested in newspaper cuttings about the death of Edmund Drew. I have a photo of Edmund with his extended Light family taken in St. Ann’s Well Gardens 1903.

    By Geraldine Lewis (22/09/2008)
  • I am the great grand-daughter of Edmund Drew and would like to know more about this side of the family – especially more about Bessie Light and rumours that she was Jewish.   My grandmother was called Gladys Drew, the youngest of the four children of Edmund Jury Drew and Bessie Light. My mother, Diana, is interested in knowing more about the Drews.  Dudley and Geraldine – please get in contact.
    Email kirstininnes@yahoo.co.uk anyone with more info on the Light or Drew family in Brighton and Hove and any interesting family stories.

    By Kirstin Innes (13/10/2008)
  • I am Edmund Drew’s great great great granddaughter and have just begun putting the family tree together. I would LOVE pictures, articles, cuttings or ANY information at all on the Drew family and their marriages! Please get in touch; would love to hear from anyone that knows more. Claire Drew

    By Claire Drew (23/12/2010)
  • I used to visit the Hare & Hounds in the early 1950s. Percy Eldridge was the landlord and they often had ‘Blind Johnny’, as he was known, playing the piano. Johnny was also a piano tuner, he tuned the piano in our pub The White Hart, York Hill. The Andy Ansell trio also performed in the Hare & Hounds, Andy played accordion. I also ran a trio/quartet and played in other pubs such as the Whitehawk Inn and the two Labour clubs. The original brewers, the United Brewery, were bought up by Brickwoods.

    By Barrie Searle (31/12/2010)
  • I did a few gigs upstairs here 20 years ago with a whining Justin Hawkins lookalike on bass, a convicted murderer who is now doing time on guitar and a dead ringer for Ian Beale out of ‘Eastenders’ in the final stages of a terminal illness on drums. We were called Stubborn Creed and got a lousy review in ‘Kerrang’ magazine. My next band Hampton and the Leopards also played at this venue but was much better and a happier experience – hello Mac, Simons Tree and Dennis and Tel the Fish!

    By steve Andrews (23/02/2011)
  • In response to Barrie Searle’s comment, it was during the management of Percy Eldridge that my Father used to sing in the pub on a Saturday night. My Mother and Father used to meet up with their friends in the pub, Percy Sargent, and his Wife whose name I have now forgotten. Percy was the brother of Harry Sargent, AKA Max Miller. At this time I used to go to the Preston Technical Institute on day-release in the same class as Percy Eldrige’s son, who was an apprentice at Allen West.

    By Vic Bath (25/08/2011)
  • I have just spotted from Barrie Searle’s post that he has mentioned Andy Ansell. That will be the man I knew as an Auxiliary RAF Officer we had at our ATC, Air Training Cadets, squadron at Patcham, No. 225 Squadron ATC. I also remember him playing in a band at the Brighton Labour Club in London Road.  

    By Vic Bath (01/05/2014)
  • Hello Vic, yes that definitely sounds like Andy.  In fact I was told his christian name was Ray but he was always called Andy.  I believe I am correct in saying he was an insurance agent  during the day.

    By Barrie Searle (03/05/2014)
  • Hello, again, Vic.  I have just read your previous entry re-Preston Technical Institute.  I attended a pre-apprenticeship Electrical/Mechanical full time engineering course back in circa 1952.

    By Barrie Searle (04/05/2014)
  • I played this pub a couple of times in the 90s with two different bands. First band (Tempting Alice) we played on the small raised stage opposite the door. This was 1991/2. Last time I played was March 1996 and we played with our backs to the window onto London Road (Shambolic we were called).  Great pub. Lousy music but good memories!

    By Tim Robson (12/06/2014)
  • I am Selina, Harold and Alice Drew’s granddaughter. My father was Geoffrey, their eldest son, who followed in his father’s footsteps and became an optician too. I would love to learn more about my family. Any information would be lovely! Thanks

    By Selina Walker (nee Drew) (07/07/2014)
  • My mother was a part time barmaid at The Hare and Hounds from 1948/1950.  I used to play with Michael and Jennifer Eldridge during the school holidays.  We particularly liked going upstairs to the snooker room, forbidden, of course, in case we damaged the cloth.

    By Jennifer Price (31/08/2014)
  • Any information re my great grandpa and mama would be great!

    By Selina Drew (10/01/2015)
  • My late father – Arthur Foulkes- knew Percy Eldridge from his RAF days in the ’40’s.  After they were demobbed, he often used to go and see him at the H&H on a Sunday morning. Percy always used to give me and my sister a free lemonade as we waited for Dad.

    By Rita Hider (nee Foulkes) (07/04/2017)
  • I am one of Edmund Jury Drew’s Great Grandchildren, and would love to have contact with Selina Walker (nee Drew), Claire Drew, and re-contact with Kirstin Innes. I have just been watching a video of Gladys Richardson (Edmund Jury Drew’s daughter) which I made some years ago, in which she recollects times in her life. 

    By Simon Drew (06/03/2018)
  • …following on from my previous comments I would also be very interested to make contact with Geraldine Lewis above. 

    By Simon Drew (06/03/2018)
  • Hi family!
    I am re-visiting the Drew family tree and would love to make contact. One side of the family remain in Brighton and broader England, the other emigrated to New Zealand in the 1970s.
    You can reach me on clairedrew@hotmail.co.uk.
    Claire.

    By Claire Drew (09/11/2020)
  • My 2nd great grandmother, Ellen Lindfield, gave the original Hare and Hounds, London Road as her place of residence on her marriage registration in 1864.

    By Jane Taylor (09/11/2021)

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