The Signalman

Pubs next to train stations are awful.
Mind mangling, ball bustingly, sphincter puckeringly awful.
It’s a realisation we all come to, so it’s nice to also come to the exception that proves the rule.
The Signalman is a very nice pub. Nicely decorated, nice beer garden, charming bar staff and a nicely mixed clientele.
Serves food, but didn’t have any, so I’ll leave that to someone else to give a full report on.
Upshot, if you’re waiting for a train at London Road, or just in the area, pop in. It’s… nice.

Nice pub overall with friendly staff and a well fitted out interior with a small but very useable garden at the rear. Good choice of real ales and one real cider. Only disappointment was the Nachos on the menu which were a huge disappointment.

Arrrghhh! What’s happened to the food? In March 2013 I had what I consider to be the best pub roast dinner ever and hung out with friends for a good few chilled hours feeling nice and satisfied which is why I took a friend visiting from London and a local friend and her daughter there on Sunday and met up with another local friend I had been there with in March. (Are you keeping up with me? lol). I was drooling at the thought of having another fab roast and was so disappointed when it was delivered to our table. We could tell just by looking that this was not going to be good and it was bad. My friends who had the beef left it because it was fatty. The veg was uninspiring and the gravy weak. I’m pretty sure the plates were smaller than before. My friend’s daughter had cheesy chips. They looked old and there was a puddle of grease at the bottom of the bowl. Yuk. There was a long wait too and I thought that was OK as I had expected the standard to be exceptional and therefore worth it. Oh dear. Wrong. The waitress asked how it was when she collected the plates after some time (and they were not busy) and I politely told her. She advised that the chef who had been there in March had left and the assistant chef back then was the head chef now. A rather hasty promotion I feel. Some of my friends had dessert because they were still hungry. The apple and pear crumble was nice but the custard was luke warm. Such a shame as I won’t be going back for food and cannot now recommend.

We expected great things from this pub, having had it & especially the food recommended to us, but visiting on New Years day, sadly we were to be very disappointed. The bar staff were friendly enough, but if our experience is anything to go by, they really DO need to get their act together & communicate with each other & the Kitchen staff FAR better. We met up with a large group of friends with the intention of all eating there, one member of our party had already rang ahead to make sure they were doing food, to be told YES, we are doing full Sunday roasts FANTASTIC, no need to cook or so we thought until getting there only to be told, don’t know who told you that, we only have the bar menu today a couple of our party were held up, so again a member of our party checked what time they were serving food until & was told 10pm the board outside confirmed this Great stuff or so we thought but on trying to order a little later at barely 6pm, we were told the kitchen was closed!!! leaving a large group, including Children very hungry & not at all happy & nowhere else to go, especially annoying as menus were still on the table & on complaining again we got Dunno who told you that We reluctantly put this down to post NYE hangovers & hoped it was a one off turns out not, friends rang us last weekend, looking to join us for food, after having pretty much the same experience as we did beer & drinks selection where mostly okay, but we also found the décor to be trying a bit too hard & failing a bit miserably as a result, I can totally see where Hartingdale above is coming from, so don’t feel the need to repeat that, but come on, get your act together!

Bar staff that aim to please. Recently had a real cider festival. Great vibe, good location.

What a splendid job the new owners have done with this now charming local in Ditchling Rise. Long gone is the grotty décor and unpleasant atmosphere of the Railway — instead it’s now a bright, comfortable and very pleasant pub, serving fantastic food at very reasonable prices. The brave among can have the chance to try snails and frogs legs (well done, my 10 year old niece!), but the more conventional palates are also well catered for — the burgers are excellent, and the nachos ginormous! And check out that garden! From the heated booths to the large benches, it’s a complete suntrap and a wonderful place to spend a sunny Brighton evening. Highly recommended.

A recent discovery of mine, The Signalman is a large, handsome pub on the well-​heeled Ditchling Rise. Like the nearby Open House, who have recently taken over management of this place, this is mature, relaxed drinking, with lots of dark ales, and pressed ciders. The barroom is strong and ornate, while outside and down the steps is a large terraced beer garden which gets sun nearly all day. The food is classic pub stuff of the highest calibre — the cod coming with rich brown and crispy batter, soft and melting inside, with vitally green mushy peas and piquant tartar sauce.

The Signalman, once the legendary Railway Hotel, is a much-​needed improvement on the aforesaid. Where the Railway was one of the grottiest and most ‘local’ (in the League of Gentlemen sense) pubs in Brighton, The Signalman is a new and improved version of this old favourite. Now serving more drinks and food, it has gone from a classic dive to somewhere I could actually spend an evening. Well worth popping your head into!
Apart from the new and tasteful décor (a big improvement on the original’s stained walls), The Signalman now seems to have finally got to grips with its pricing and drinks. Where it was earlier hard to get anything beyond the basic lagers, there are now ales, various bottles, drinkable wine, as well as the lagers (can’t get rid of those I suppose), all for much more normalised Brighton prices. This certainly isn’t the cheapest place to get a pint in Brighton, but the new, modern décor and the larger drinks selection do go a big way towards making The Signalman a viable alternative for a night out.
The piece de resistance, however, is The Signalman’s new and improved garden area. Once a grotty area with little going for it, the new garden is very pleasantly arranged and tastefully laid out, with plenty of heaters and covered seating areas. It always surprises me that, since the ban, so many Brighton staple pubs don’t cater to the smokers with nice gardens: it’s good to see this was on their list of priorities when refurbishing here!
If you ever went to the Railway, definitely pop along to The Signalman to see the improvements: it is an impressive transmogrification. If you’re new to this whole pub set up, it’s a viable alternative to some of the nearby drinking holes: give it a try!

Having undergone a massive refurbishment earlier in the year, the ‘Signalman’ is almost unrecognisable from the ‘Railway’ that came before it.
The once shabby décor has been replaced with tasteful exposed brickwork and a highly polished interior. There are a good selection of ales and lager on tap, more so than your average pub. The atmosphere is lively but enjoyable, and the staff are always pretty friendly.
The pub does sell food, but having seen three different menus in as many months, I’d be unsure as to whether this would be your best choice for a meal out.
The Signalman is a nice pub and a worthwhile addition to the Brighton scene, certainly one of the better pubs you’ll find in the London road area, and a good place to have a drink. The outdoor beer garden is tasteful and also contains a heated smoking area.

This great pub used to be known as The Railway and has recently been refurbished and it definitely looks better for it. The décor is lovely and light and the place feels very spacious. There’s large bookcases to the side of the room, the walls are filled with traditional pictures and old fashioned clocks and the whole pub is full of comfy seating and big tables. There’s a good selection of beverage’s to choose from and the staff are very friendly. It also serves food and although I haven’t tried it I’ve only heard good praise. Outside there is a decked beer garden with heated smoking compartments and lots of tables. It makes a nice change to be able to sit and relax outside without rushing to get back in the warm. It always has a nice atmosphere when I walk into this bar and it seems people tend to choose this place for a quiet drink or a nice relaxing meal. There is also a pub quiz every Tuesday and good music is always played here so I would definitely check this place out.

Formerly the Railway Hotel, this pub has undergone a serious face lift, and has recently reopened as the Signalman.
Despite living in the area for a good few years, I only went to the Railway once or twice, coaxed down by friends who were enjoying a pool tournament. Back then the numerous pool tables were, in my opinion, the pub’s only selling point. The bar was always lined with locals who’s icy stares said ‘back ff, this is our turf!’.the atmosphere was hence uninviting and the pub was generally a bit dingy and run down.
Well, the tide hath turned! Having noticed that the pub was being refurbished, I decided to pop in and check it out. The décor is much improved… amazing what a good lick of paint can do to a place! From the snazzy light fixtures and chrome bar fittings inside to the ornate lanterns hanging outside… the Railway has been truly transformed! There are still some regulars hanging out (and let’s face it, we wouldn’t want them displaced, that would be mean!), but they longer seem to own the place, which is nice. The bar staff are friendly and they have all of the usual drinks and snacks. The large beer garden could still use a bit of work, but I’m hoping the transformation will extend to here, once summer rolls around!