Some of Sussex's best pubs according to Camra's good beer guide

The Good Beer Guide is published annually by the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra), listing what it considers to be the best 4,500 real ale outlets in the country. The content of the guide is decided upon by volunteers in Camra's local branches. Throughout the preceding year, CAMRA members anonymously rate the quality of the cellarmanship of beer in venues and these scores are then reviewed by local volunteers.

This year 127 pubs across Sussex were listed in the guide with 31 new entries alongside long time favourites. Here are some of those favourites:

The Poets Smoke and Ale House, Hove

The Poets is a dog and family friendly pub with an extensive menu featuring vegetarian and vegan dishes. The smokehouse menu offers 16hr slow smoked BBQ pulled pork and brisket to fruit wood smoked ribs to name a few. There is also a regular special smoke out event featuring exotic meats and themes.

The Dorset, Lewes

The Dorset was built in 1670 on the site of an illegal workhouse, and is about 100 steps from the famous Bridge Wharf brewery. Parts of the original building still form areas of the pub today. For the last 160 years the pub has been the headquarters of the legendary Cliffe Bonfire Society, the largest of the five Lewes bonfire societies. The Dorset earned the nickname “The Cats” because of the pub’s sign which features the coat of arms of the Earls of Dorset who kept two snow leopards as household pets and claimed ownership of the area between 1588–1842.

The pub is home to Lewes' biggest bonfire society (Image: The Dorset Facebook) The Hole in the Wall, Chichester

The Hole in the Wall in Chichester is believed to have started as a 17th-century brewery and was later used as a debtors’ prison. Now it hosts live music nights, jam sessions, and “legendary street parties” and has two open fires to keep customers cosy in the winter.

The Dog and Duck, Bognor

The Dog and Duck was previously called The Star and Garter and the Elizabeth II before that. Located in the heart of the Steyne conservation area, and just across from the seafront, the Dog and Duck specialises in cast ale from breweries across Sussex.

The Dog and Duck is located in the heart of the Steyne conservation area (Image: The Dog and Duck Facebook) The Hare and Hounds, Worthing

This flint building dates to the late 18th century and became an inn in 1814, it was extended into the adjoining property in the 1990s. Cosy and traditional, the pub has a busy schedule including quizzes and jazz evenings.

The Fox Inn, Felpham

The Fox Inn is located on the site of a pub which was built in 1790. Just 250 yards from the beach, it was built after the war to replace the former pub which was destroyed in a fire. The pub is independently run and known for its wood-panelled cosy interiors.

The pub's roof had to be painted over during WWII (Image: The White Horse Facebook) The White Horse, Bodle Street Green

This rural free house dating from the 1850s makes a return to this guide for the first time since 1977. Popular with walkers and cyclists. The pub is known for its roof painting of a white horse which was covered over during the Second World War so that enemy pilots could not use it as a navigation aid. It made a return in the post war years, initially being painted facing the wrong way, and finally being corrected.