The Stag’s Head in Westbourne is having a beer festival over the Easter weekend, starting at about 2 on Good Friday and going through until at least the Sunday evening (and possibly into the Monday if there’s any left!)

There’s a hog roast on Friday evening, and about 15 beers should be on sale — plus hopefully a few ciders, too…

The branch’s Pub of the Year is the Duke of Cumberland Arms in Henley.

This country pub has an unspoilt interior, beers (including Langham Hip Hop and Harveys Best) served on gravity, and some original gas lights. The large rolling gardens feature trout pools, and there’s a real log fire in the smoking area!

The food’s pretty good, too: the cod and chips was the approximate size of a whale…

This got to us a bit too late for the Sussex Drinker, but there’s a beer festival coming up at the Eastgate, Chichester. It’s on June 20–22, with 10 beers on stillage (plus the usual Fuller’s/Gale’s range on the bar) and a hog roast on Saturday.

Looks like we have an Internet campaign underway: to get Alistair Darling barred from every pub in Britain.

You can download the poster for the window of your local, and there’s a Facebook group, too — 143 members at the current count.

The only Sussex pubs I’ve spotted on the list so far are all in Lewes (including the Gardener’s Arms) but I’m sure we in Western Sussex can increase the total.

(Could we bar him from all the petrol stations while we’re at it, too?)

The Seal, Selsey, is Western Sussex CAMRA’s Pub of the Year for 2008.

A large, friendly pub offering a good range of beers, often including Dark Star, the Seal is a breath of fresh air on the Selsey scene and a worthy winner. Congratulations!

After spending most of the evening counting 2p coins, we now know the final total from the charity pile at the Maypole, Yapton:

A grand total of £3101.25 and a shilling was raised for St Wilfrid’s Hospice.

(Plus assorted foreign currency, including 3 Trinidad & Tobago Dollars. Oo, paper money! Turns out it’s worth about 23p, so probably not worth troubling Intercash over…)

Alan and Kate are leaving the Maypole, Yapton on Sunday November 4, after several award-winning years (including CAMRA Regional Pub of the Year 2004).

No official word yet on where they’re going, but hopefully they won’t be defecting to a neighbouring branch :)

If you like loud clattering noises, Alan will be pushing the charity 2p pile over on Friday night.

The Bull in Chichester has reopened after a refit, with up to three real ales on gravity (though apparently shorter barstaff may have difficulty reaching the taps :)

Not quite sure what beers are on at the moment, though our roving reporter wil probably have paid them a visit before too long.

The beer festival planned for Nov 2–4 at the Maypole, Yapton has been cancelled.

I’ve just passed through Chichester and noticed that the Coach & Horses has a nice new sign hanging outside — only now it says “Hall & Woodhouse” rather than “King & Barnes”.

Mixed feelings about this, really: on the one hand, the new sign is more accurate, considering that’s where the beers are brewed, but on the other hand, are we going to see the K&B name disappear completely?

I believe they still sell the Gribble-brewed Pukka Mild, so it’s worth popping in regardless of what name is above the door…