Opinion - Sarah Clowes on the Lewes Arms

One of the special things about the Lewes Arms is the tolerance and lack of bigotry shown by both the staff and regulars alike. The atmosphere of the pub has always been created by a combination of these special unique people, who continue year on year to excel in their mad-cap ideas for fund raising for charities. For example the recent Dwyle Flunking match between The Lewes Arms and The Lewes Operatic resulted in £100 being raised for the RNLI.

The recent irrational outbursts by supposed regulars, people affected by a couple of new blackboards and a new landlady, are surprising and unfounded. The best way to overcome any apparent hostility (that's probably just nervousness) is to talk to Claire and welcome her, not to snipe at her from an internet ivory tower. Oh, and any good Lewesian should know that Tom Paine wrote the Rights of Man as a tract for embracing change, throwing off the shackles of supposed tradition and approaching problems democratically Inevitably, the Lewes Arms was going to change somewhat when a woman of 50+ was replaced by a woman in her twenties. Have all those currently sniping at Claire, and even outright attacking her, always stepped easily into every new job they have taken on? Has no-one ever been grateful for the patience, tolerance and forbearing of those around them as they make changes in their lives? Does the anti Greene King lobby have to automatically assume that everything they do is wrong? Rarely is anyone all wrong, as rarely as anyone is all right. Perhaps a less hysterical consideration of matters would make life happier all round for both Claires, and all the locals of the Lewes Arms, past, present and future.