Richmond Arms
West Ashling Chichester West Sussex PO18 8EA
It’s worth a trip to the Richmond Arms in the pretty village of West Ashling for the bar snacks alone: crunchy smoky sardines with chilli, gremolata-coated haloumi fries, chorizo and lemon crumbed sprats, or even just Serrano ham cut to order on the glossy red slicing machine in pride of place near the door. Better still, stay for a meal, and settle yourself down on one of the candlelit, scrubbed wooden tables to enjoy innovative mains such as roast duck with pomegranate molasses and pickled rhubarb, or BBQ spicy squid with peanut poppadoms, washed down with a glass of home-made hedgerow eaux de vie, and finished off with a scoop of home-made ice cream. You wouldn’t suspect such culinary pizazz from the pub’s rather plain exterior, but inside it’s smart and stylish, with slate-grey paintwork, bare brick, dark boards and quirkily decorated ducks adorning the walls – the last of these a nod to the village’s picturesque duck pond just down the lane. At the back of the pub a converted skittles alley provides the seating for a brand-new venture, a snazzy red-and-white-painted pizza wagon in the car park outside, which serves up crispy, artisan-style pizzas on Friday and Saturday evenings.
