Polegate Restaurant Guide

This former religious hostel on the banks of the Cuckmere River is considerably less humble than in days of yore, having been given the Olga Polizzi treatment (Bloomsbury Set artworks, fancy Elizabethan-style floor, plush bedrooms) a few years back. While some baulk at the “very expensive” price tag, for most it’s justified by the “very good” British cooking and, if you overnight – perhaps after a trip to Glyndebourne or a stroll on The Downs – “it should be mentioned that the breakfasts are particularly good”.

Dining amid the Edwardian “time-warp” splendour of the Grand Hotel is “always a wonderful experience” according to traditionalist fans of this seafront landmark, which “continues to sail along offering well spaced tables, attentive silver service”. One or two reports regret that in moving with the times it’s become “sadly less stylish than in times past, with no serving cloche or pianist on the night visited”, but all acknowledge it’s “still a lovely room”, with “imaginative cuisine” from chef Alex Burtenshaw – cooking that all reports acknowledged as consistent this year.

2022 Review: At the heart of a picture-perfect village in the South Downs National Park which was beloved by Virginia Woolf in her day, this rambling brick and flint pub-with-rooms has a “great garden, or more like field” (!) offering views over the Sussex countryside. Inside offers an “intimate” and “romantic” backdrop to “modern and fresh” food of a “reliable” bent.

2022 Review: They “recently extended the outdoor space and garden” at this imposing wattle-and-daub Elizabethan inn, built for the Keeper of the Privy Purse to Elizabeth I, no less. Together with a “new menu” of snacks and heartier grub it now makes a “great eating place” by all accounts.

Former Le Caprice chef Nick Hales this year celebrates 21 years at his townhouse restaurant, where he showcases the daily catch provided by Europe’s largest beach-launched fishing fleet at Hastings – “there are meat dishes, but the fish and seafood is what you should come here for (and I’m not a great fish-eater!)”. All reports suggest its “on top form” currently.

This “satisfying haunt” – a smartly renovated Victorian hotel opposite the station – attracts a “relaxed regular clientele” with a “solid-if-limited menu on weekday lunchtimes, but more varied and flavourful choice in the evening”.

2022 Review: Owners Alan McNally and Steve Morrish (who have collectively worked in some of London's trendier spots: Crispin, Leroy, Lyle’s and The Clove Club) run this tapas, eatery and deli with the aim of creating a “Balearic vibe”. No feedback as yet, but on paper it looks well worth a try.

“In a delightful village”, this “scenic” gastroboozer-with-rooms continues to please, two years after longtime owners the Pullan family handed the keys to the Young’s group; the “best atmosphere is in the bar” (as opposed to the annexe), though the “great garden” remains the standout here, offering lovely views of the Ouse countryside.

Fans proclaim the “best food in Eastbourne”, at this “fun” and “buzzy” subterranean wine bar, restaurant and bottle shop, whose décor is enlivened by a pink neon Hunter S Thompson quote. On the food front, there’s “something for everyone” (namely small and large plates), while the “ever-changing, excellent wine list” features English bottles and rare wines by the glass.

2023 Review: “Great attention to detail is the hallmark of this Italian restaurant close to the seafront in Eastbourne”. Run by chef/patron, hospitality veteran Lorenzo Cinalli, it’s in a traditional mould and – according to a recent review from the Mail on Sunday’s Tom Parker Bowles “is one of those rare places that manages to combine the old school with the resolutely regional” including “spanking fresh turbot... up there with Scott’s, Wiltons or Bentley’s”.

2023 Review: No feedback as yet on this August 2020 arrival in this ever-more fashionable seaside town, but it’s a July 2022 tip from Giles Coren writing in The Times and awarding it 23/30. “I probably shouldn’t have been as surprised as I was by the low, low prices on the menu” achieved with “unfashionable fish – mussels, sea trout, plaice, mackerel – and plenty of pasta.”

“An amazing small restaurant in quirky premises” that span an “historic cinema” (the Kino, which dates back to 1913) and the “interesting” Baker-Mamonova Gallery, which showcases 20th-century Russian art. The dining area has had a few different iterations over the years, and is currently run in-house, focussing on crowd-pleasing mains (the “mussels are amazing”), “great coffee” and breakfasts, plus a long list of cocktails. Given the location, it’s particularly “good for a pre-Kino dinner”.

Taking over the former King’s Road Antiques site in July 2023, this modern European neighbourhood restaurant was co-founded by Ruby Boglione, whose parents run Richmond lifestyle brand Petersham Nurseries. Given that filiation, there’s a decidedly “boho atmosphere” (lots of trees, madcap art and bare plaster walls), while an open-fire grill fuels chef Joshua Dickinson’s Britalian farm-to-table cooking, which makes much of “great-quality, locally sourced ingredients” and is “always interesting”. Pasta dishes dominate on Mondays, and there’s also a casual café-style menu of focaccia sandwiches.

Unlikely but promising something spectacular – that’s the potential of this brave newcomer: the passion project of chef Jack Lury and his wife, Issy Cianchi, set in a small, 10-seat basement that’s a stone’s throw from this not-so-lovely portion of the British seafront. It’s a dream that started life as a delivery business during Covid, and opened here in Spring 2025 – rather late for feedback in our annual diners’ poll. But in her June 2025 visit, The Times’s Charlotte Ivers went wild for cooking that showed “an extraordinary level of ambition”. Drawing on Jack’s British and Burgher (European-meets-Sri Lankan) heritage he creates fusion dishes of huge imagination and variety, and according to Charlotte, “If this is not quite yet a five-star restaurant… it will be soon”. She concludes: “Who creates a ten-course menu for their first permanent restaurant? A madman, that’s who. But one of quite clearly astonishing creativity and talent”.