Mile Oak Inn, Portslade

Plans dated 27 January 1951 were drawn up by Messrs Denman & Son of 27 Queen’s Road, Brighton for Kemp Town Brewery for a new pub which was opened in Dec. 1954.

Built of brick in a traditional, Neo-Georgian style the pub still retains its three separate bars – what seems to have always been the public bar/games room on the left, saloon bar at the centre, and private bar/function room on the right; the left and right hand bars being of single storey

The left hand bar, now called the Sports Bar, has a carpet over the original parquet floor and retains its original bar counter of curved oak panels laid horizontally and possibly the original top. The bar back fitting is of old shelves on a mirrored back and half of the lower shelving remains and could be the original. There is a substantial shelf opposite the counter for use by customers standing which is probably modern. There is no fixed seating and the fireplace has been removed in recent years.

The middle bar has a carpet over the original parquet floor and retains its original bar counter of curved oak panels laid horizontally and possibly the original top. The bar back fitting is of old shelves on a mirrored back with a ‘Charringtons’ illuminated top section and as Kemp Town Brewery were taken over by Charrington’s in 1954 this is likely to be an original feature; only a small piece of lower shelving remains On the walls all around the room are strips of panelling and there is no fixed seating or signs of a fireplace. In modern times a doorway has been cut into the rear wall to the right of the servery to access the passage and toilets; also, in the same area, a doorway has been cut in the right hand wall for staff to access the servery in the right hand bar (and the original access off the passage is now out of use).

On the right is a larger room now the function room with a parquet floor and carpet on part. It retains its original bar counter of curved oak panels laid horizontally but has been painted a light blue colour and has a modern top over the original. The bar back is much modernised with new tiling but half of the original lower shelves remain. The dado panelling could be original but is also painted a light blue colour. There is a fireplace shaped area on the right but the fireplace has been removed; large Bass mirror on the wall.

A passage runs down the back of the serveries and off it are two gents’ and two ladies’ toilets – the right hand gents has two large original urinals (it is difficult to tell if the urinal opposite is original or a later addition) and the left one an original urinal with 3 individual urinals attached to it, and all toilets have original tiled floors but modern tiles on the walls. There are windows in both the left and right hand lobbies – it maybe that the right hand one was an off sales originally?

In 2017 a Co-op store was built onto the right hand side of the building and half the car park lost.