It’s amazing the number of people who live in Lewes who say they’ve never been to the Swan. I mean, it’s not that far down Southover High Street. And it’s a great place for an al fresco lunch, boasting by far the most pleasant beer garden in Lewes; all flint walls, grass underfoot and wooden one-piece bench-and-pews. All this overlooked by higgledey-piggledy red-tiled rooftops and home to the biggest roost of white doves I’ve ever seen. And the food? The first thing to say is that the portions are enormous. I go for scampi and chips, and while they don’t serve up the real whole-tail prawn variety (think old-style seafood nuggets) there are so many on my plate that I offer them round the assorted bunch on my table. And that, believe me, is a first. There’s a side salad, a portion of peas, and an extra dish bearing chips. It’s a hot day, for the season, and I’m a fast eater, but there’s so much there that it goes cold before I finish.

Back in the early eighties, when the Swan was the only place pre-eighteeners could routinely get served, it was a regular haunt. Not much has changed since then: their licensing hours are the same as ever (it shuts between two and six), they still serve a great pint of Harveys, and the brilliantly nicknamed John the Swan is, as ever, behind the bar serving it, albeit with slightly greyer hair. For a nostalgic turn-the-clocks-back experience, that walk isn’t much of a price to pay. AL