Lord Nelson Inn, Brighton

The premises were built in 1848 and named the Lord Nelson in 1854. The attractive etched windows – ‘Smoking Room’, ‘Wines', 'Spirits’ - each feature a pair of dolphins, the one-time brand and motif of Brighton’s Kemp Town brewery, taken over by Charrington in 1964. Harveys bought it in 1980. There are also 'Public bar' panels in the two central doors. This pub retains the footprint of two small front bars and many of its old fittings with evidence of an inter-war refit.

The former front bars each had their own vestibule entrance and were separated by a rare low partition screen but in 2014 the top section of the partition was removed by Harveys and replaced by glazed panel to ceiling height but even that was removed in a further refit in 2016. The glass panel advertises Kenward & Court Brewers and Bottlers of Hadlow. In recent times changes at this central entrance were to remove the former off-sales and the matching vestibule to that remaining on the far right. The two former bars have an old counter (curved panels look to be of the inter-war period) and very good genuine old bar back shelves, tiered with slender columns. There are rebuffed old floorboards while the embossed wall and ceiling paper is typical of the 1930s. At the left is a Victorian-style tiled and cast-iron fireplace. There are aged half-height dados and old panelling on the walls with benches attached in the right hand bar.

Down two steps through an archway at the rear right is a modern bar counter (1970s/1980?). The dado panelling and fixed seating is not easy to date and there is another Victorian-style tiled and cast-iron fireplace. Several years ago a further room was created at the rear. A conservatory was added in the 1980s.

In 2016 the pub was extended to the left into two former shops. This area is decorated in a nautical style and is accessed down some steps to the left of front bar. Two new windows have been inserted into the wall between this extension and the wall of the former left hand bar.