Things have been pretty hectic below ground since the pandemic paused for breath; table service was hard work for all the staff and we are relieved to be back to bar service. With the return to “normal operating procedures” we have started to re-introduce some of the things that we had initiated in our first year.

We had our first post-covid quiz on Thurs 9th September and we have our second one scheduled for Thurs 14th October, all being well these will continue on the 2nd Thursday of each month. As well as a £20 bar voucher, the winner gets to hold the ER Quiz Trophy for the month…prestige or what! It’s up to 6 per table and £1 per person (which goes to St Catherine’s). Ping us an email if you want a table.

ERGin night is back on Fridays; it’s a free mixer with every double gin!

We have also re-introduced “ERGin of the week”. Each week we have a different gin will be priced at £4 for a single and £7 for a double; so if you can’t decide which of our extensive range of Sussex gins to have, then just select the “ERGin of the week”!

On the music front, we already have Les & Pete AKA The Beer Jukebox (or if you listen to Les “The Average Shite Band”!!). They play every Tuesday night from 7.30pm, entry is free! If you haven’t seen them then you don’t know what you are missing!

On Wednesday 29th September, we have three of local band “The Bag Full of Hats” performing as “The Three Hats”. Dave, George and Pete will be playing some favourite tunes as well as some of George’s own compositions. Remember if you wear a hat on the night you will get £1 off of your first drink!

If you want to get aHEAD get a HAT!!!

All being well, we will be looking to organise regular music nights with local artists…keep an eye on our facebook and Instagram pages:

Finally to wrap up this newsletter we are holding the 2nd annual Engine Room OktobERfest on the 16th/17th October.
You can find all the details here
Remember it’s all about the fun and, as with last year, we will be coming round taking pictures and a prize will we awarded to the person, or persons, looking like they are having the most fun!!!
A few samples from last year:

PS: if there are any spelling or grammar mistakes it’s because Lisa wasn’t around to check it for me 🙂

Until now we have restricted our indoor live music to the The Beer Jukebox, who have a regular slot every Tuesday night at 7.30pm. We feel that now might be a the right time to start having some other local acts. To test the water, so to speak, we have three members of local group, “A Bag Full Of Hats”, Dave, George and Pete, performing as ” The Three Hats” on Wednesday 29th September at 8pm.

As their name suggests, “The Hats” like to wear hats so we are offering a pound off the first drink to anyone that wears a hat on the night..so dig out that headgear and come on down!!

Answer: It’s the return of the ER Quiz!

To book a table email us here

Or, message us on Whatsapp…

Yes, it’s the return of enGIN night

Every Friday get a free mixer with any large gin….

Well we had a blast…
Huge thanks go out to
Neil & Co. & The Market Square for providing the excellent Jerk Chicken on Friday evening, together with the rum samples and the HOT sauce!!
Al The Pieman for the excellent pies!
Les, Pete & Andy ft. Dave Fraser on bass, for kicking things off in style
Toulah & Jude for some amazing covers… good luck at Brit School…definitely both stars of the future!
Chris Buley for tickling the ivories and waking us all up on Saturday
Jamie Bland with an amazing cover of Ed Sheran’s “You Need Me, I Don’t Need You”
Jono Harrison for his first (and hopefully not last!) performance at the ER
Léanie Kaleido for some great tunes from her 3 albums, one of which is available to buy at the ER
Molly McKenna for finally making it over to EG and performing her own songs and some unique covers!
The Bandettas aka Jeff and Crumpy for kicking us off on a HOT Sunday and singing Big Yellow Taxi
Jon McDevitt for an amazing set and for performing “Lemon days“
To everyone that attended and for all the #Cash4Acts donations!
Lisa, Sarah & David for all their hard work, support and for simply putting up with me!
and finally Dan, Katie, Jo and Fi for a sterling effort in the heat

’til the NEXT TIME…

We’ve got a great selection of Sussex beers and local artists.
Open each day from noon (close at 11pm)
Don’t forget we are still under restrictions so book a table if you don’t want to be disappointed! – limited to 6 per table inside
Please bring some lots of loose change as we will be collecting for all the musicians #cashforartists
Jerk chicken provided by Market Square on
Friday evening
For info/bookings email us here

After consulting with the council we have decided that it is safe to re-start music inside the ER. However, we need to comply with existing Covid restriction, so it is seating on tables of up to 6, table service and social distancing. So space is restricted and for now to kick things Les and Pete AKA The Beer Jukebox are playing weekly on Tuesday (except Tues 22nd June) evenings from 7.30pm (ish). Table arrangements mean that we really only have 3 tables, two of 4 and one of 2 so not quite Glastonbury! If you want to come along it would be best to book, just email us here

For those that aren’t aware of The Beer Jukebox, Les & Pete both play guitar and have a enormous range of songs they can sing, and always open to requests, Les used to be a professional musician and played for the Scottish folk band The Tannerhill Weavers. Pete is also a very accomplished semi-professional guitar player. The duo are often accompanied by Andy on Saxophone and Flute; Andy “rubberlegs” Ferguson plays for a Ska band called the Ska Toons who can often bee seen performing in and around the Lewes area.

Don’t miss this display of local talent!

In case you hadn’t noticed there have ben a number of new breweries popping up in Sussex during the pandemic. We have been doing our best to seek them out and feature some of their beers

Here are three that we have recently contacted and acquired some great new beers:

Lake Down Brewing

A family run, independent brewery in rural East Sussex. Making modern and traditional beers in can, bottle, keg and cask. They also have a Tap Room at Roger Daltrey’s Lakedown Trout Fishery

Only With Love

Founded in 2020 (in lockdown #1 & #2) by Steve (the guy behind Holler Brewery) and Roger (a guy who drank too much Holler beer) in the heart of Sussex. Only With Love is a new kind of brewery; sustainably created, packaged and delivered. They create kombucha and beer for better minds, bodies and spirits.

Horsham Brewing Co.

Set-up by Rohan Hill, the man behind the Shed Brewing Co., and Tim Pitts, who, with Nick Southon, has taken up the gauntlet of the Horsham Beer Festival since the much loved Gareth Jones of Beer Essential passed away.

All three breweries already have some great beers and have plans for some great new ones. Keep an eye on our Current Beers List and What’s Coming to see when we feature their beers.

Also they will be featuring in our Beer Festival 16th – 18th July

Don’t forget that we have the May Day Bank Holiday special release of Operation Mayfly from Neon Raptor all this weekend…it’s going fast so don’t miss out!

Don’t forget to tag us and #operationmayfly21…ENJOY!

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