One of the city's leading real ale pubs started out brewing its own beer in the basement and when you've finished propping up the bar you can order your beer takeaway to ensure that you continue feeling the love in the comfort of your own home.

The Venue
Real ale from ten hand pumps ensures that you'll always be able to find a relaxing pint to suit your whim. Sporting a bright maroon paint job on the outside with a colourful 3D red star hanging down above the door, this is a relaxed real ale pub much loved by devotees of the genre (it won the Campaign for Real Ale award for Sussex and Surrey Regional Pub of the Year in 2005).

Despite being only a couple of minute's walk from the railway station, The Evening Star is largely untouched by the passing commuter and tourist trade - a definite bonus when it comes to enjoying a chin stroking pint of their finest. The only downside to their handy location is that Surrey Street is heavy with fast-moving cars and buses which can occasionally ruin an otherwise quiet moment of appreciation. It's a proper beer drinker's pub with its wooden floorboards and sturdy wooden chairs and tables, and it's clear that any mention of hanging pop art on the walls (as per many a Brighton style bar) would be swiftly dismissed as insignificant nonsense.

The People
If you don't appreciate ale then you won't find anyone in agreement with you here. Stuffed to the rafters with proper beer drinkers, if you think a night down the pub is more about wearing the right outfit than the appearance of the beer then you're in the wrong place.

The Drink
A freehouse for the last 15 years, The Evening Star is part of the expanding Dark Star Brewery group. It has a microbrewery (which used to reside in the basement until they couldn't cope with demand) and serves its very own Dark Star beers as well as the amazing Espresso dark beer, which is made using coffee beans. Also on draught are Hophead, Meltdown and Original, served alongside such gems as Eastwood and Saunders and several other guest beers on rotation.

The Last Word
An absolute must for real ale fans, but even if you generally prefer grape over grain you can't truly call yourself a Brighton resident until you've tried the Evening Star's coffee-based Espresso black beer.