The White Rabbit

Great music! …And no fluffy white rabbits were hurt in the drinking of few pints of Brighton Bier.

I’m not really a big fan of The White Rabbit.
I like to be able to hear myself think when I’m having a nice chat with some friends, and unfortunately this pub feels the need to pump up the volume come a certain time in the evening.
Drink and food prices are about average for Brighton, the menu is… edible but won’t go winning any awards, and they have a nice collection of ciders to sample. Alas these are the only positive things I can say.
Avoid this place like the plague at peak times if you don’t like overcrowded noisy pubs, but by all means go for brunch. Just don’t stay for the evening entertainment!

Great drinks, great food, and BERNARD is the best bartender I’ve ever had. Go BERNARD!

The White Rabbit have (dare I say it…) the best bouncers in Brighton!
An odd review perhaps, however last weekend I rather stupidly misplaced my purse at the White Rabbit — the bouncers were helpful, didn’t have it immediately but took down my name and telephone number promising to get in touch as soon as it showed up. Being fairly distressed and having heard this from bars before (I’m far too forgetful…) I didn’t expect to ever hear anything back.
But the next morning I woke up too a text from Mark the bouncer saying he’d found it so not to worry and that he’d make sure it was behind the bar so I could come grab it whenever I liked. I was obviously over the moon! But even more impressed that I’d had a personal text from the bouncer who seemed to really care that I got it back — BIG thumbs up to Mark & the White Rabbit!
Aside from world class caring bouncers, the White Rabbit is a really reliably good pub. In the evenings its busy with people milling around chatting (not so easy to get a table), they have great drinks behind the bar with friendly and pretty amusing bar staff (I love a joke with my beverage!) and the food is pretty good — pub grub done well.
Top tip would be to come to the White Rabbit on a sunny day, get a cold beer and sit and watch the world go past outside on Kensington Gardens — you could sit there for hours. My other top tip would be not to loose your purse and have to rely on the lovely bouncers!

À la recherché d’un endroit pour le «beer time» au beau milieu de la foule des North Lanes, nous nous sommes posés au White Rabbit. Pas de place en terrasse ni dans la charmante cour intérieure à l’abri du monde, nous investissons les moelleux canapés de la salle. Une vraie ambiance de pub, lumières tamisées et pintes de bières, idéal pour quelques instants de détente avant de de se replonger dans la folie de Brighton !
Et petit plus: les soirées y ont l’air animées, à en juger par le programme affiché au mur. À tester lors d’une prochaine virée dans cette belle ville !

Always delivers, nice comfort food, Big homemade veggie burgers are a winner every time and mansize portions so when you need a hearty meal in comfy lazy surroundings with a nice cider or glass of wine this is the one!!!

I love this place! It is very nice there, good service and I was very pleased when they were playing Bonobo!

Another student fave of mine, it’s right in the middle of the North Laines but yet many people seem to have trouble finding it. I’d walked passed many times and, amongst the Laines hustle and bustle, completely missed it.
My guess is that given the name and the huge collection of clocks on the wall they were going for an Alice in Wonderland theme, but aside from the clocks this is a pub, not a tea party, although I did once have a rather delish hot chocolate here when I was giving my liver a well earned break.
There is some some funky artwork on the walls and one or two rather comfy arm chairs to lounge in. It’s most definitely not an old man’s pub nor would I make it my local but it is very Brighton, very central and very cool.

The White Rabbit is a quirky little pub situated in the pedestrian area that is Kensington Gardens, it’s a little off the beaten track and consequently the tourists struggle to find it.
The name is intriguing and so is the interior and the clientele, a real mish mash in every way possible, with a hint of grime, in a good way.
It’s one of those pubs in which you can while away the hours just staring at the décor — one wall is covered with clocks, all set at different times, and none of them working; there is an eclectic mix of art work ranging from black and white portrait photos, to an modern art take on Elvis.
The toilets are a bit grim but you can amuse yourself with the grafiti while you pee!
All in all, its eclectic, grimy and fun, a pleasant change from the sterility of many a modern drinking establishment.

I have been here so many times…
Why? Free wifi in the North Laines. Sometimes I even don’t go in, just sit out on the benches outside and download my email on my iPhone.
Overall though, great team of people there. Very friendly. Nice couches and tables and generally good music playing.
The bartenders have given me drink suggestions, and also suggestions about Brighton too. It’s a place you can bring friends to and get a little rowdy, or you can go by yourself, knock out some emails, and have some mulled wine.

To some Unilocalers, Brighton is a Wonderland and The White Rabbit is as good a place as any for your adventures. But be careful if you sink into the über comfty leather recliner, you might be late, late, for a very important date.
With a cider in one hand and the company of another Unilocaler I was more than happy to Drink Me some of The White Rabbit’s chilled ambience. They even played soundtracks, my favourites ‘Alice’ (of course ;-P) and ‘Juno’.
When it comes to Eat Me, it’s comfort food with fish finger sandwiches, mash, chips and doorstop sandwiches.
The staff didn’t do much to dispel the Wonderland vibe, dancing a waltz behind the bar and dressed in brightly coloured clothing, I’m ready to escape down the rabbit hole here any time.

Located on one of Brighton’s best streets, The White Rabbit is a good, if not unremarkable pub that ticks a good number of imaginary boxes.
Despite a name change and a new menu, the pub itself hasn’t changed much in recent years. Still sporting an all wood décor, complete with defaced tables, The White Rabbit is a casual place for casual people.
This is a perfectly adequate place to drink, nothing is bad here and the general clientele is a good mix of young professionals and Brighton natives.
None the less, there are countless pubs that offer a similar thing, generally a bit better, an example being the nearby Eagle pub.

The White Rabbit is one of Brighton’s nicer drinking locales, with loads of character, a pretty great ambiance and a nigh-​on perfect location at the top of Kensington Gardens. However, it seems to have its priorities all over the place, and some strange decisions made about how it is run make it more of a now-​and-​again drinking establishment than a fast favourite.
Most people will recognise the outside of the White Rabbit: a pretty penny has been spent to make it look funky and cool on the outside, with lots of bold colours and artwork drawing in the punters. However, on the inside it’s a little more seedy: a bit of a disappointment after the great outside look. The drinks selection is also a little sparse, and it looks none too clean: not exactly enticing! Also, the nice drinking area out the front is a little squished into the little lane that is Kensington Gardens: sitting out here feels like an inconvenience to all passers-​by. It’s nice, but awkward. The soundtrack indoors is mostly rocky and punky: nice if you like that sort of thing, although I could do without the old rockers and punks: not my scene at all!
The rock-​focus may have lost the White Rabbit some of its clientele: the remainder can seem a little gruff and grimy, and it isn’t always a pleasant atmosphere in here. That, plus the slightly grotty looking bar, have certainly lowered my esteem of the White Rabbit: if you can look past it, it’s not bad in here, but that’s a big ‘if’ I feel.

Not a bad boozer this but doesn’t do much for its own PR with the seemingly endless groups of alcoholics sitting outside smoking and leering at passers by. I’m sure they’re nice chaps but if you’re new to the place it can be a bit daunting.
Inside the pub is really nice and cosy with a friendly enough atmosphere. Plenty of character and comfy seats and a pretty good selection of ales and lagers on the bar.
With its position right in the middle of the North Lanes, this place is ideal for a mid shopping watering hole!

Before it was reincarnated as The White Rabbit, this used to be a pretty rubbish place called Gardens (or something like that). Then a few years ago, they began their refurbishment plans by running a competition to come up with the best name for the new-​look pub. Obviously ‘The White Rabbit’ won and the place was subsequently closed and re-​opened looking much, much nicer.
Unfortunately some of the old clientele still hang around, but the inside of the place is far superior. The décor includes an old red telephone box, quotes from Alice in Wonderland displayed in spiralling writing on the wall and low-​hanging lampshades with pretty Fleur-​De-​Lys-​style and flowered designs on them. Big chunky wooden tables combined with stripped-​down wooden doors make it rather homely.
I’ve never eaten here, so I can’t comment on the menu, but the little cake stands full of beautifully decorated cupcakes and fairy cakes are a very nice touch. The benches outside on Kensington Gardens are a great place to people-​watch and to soak up the fantastic atmosphere of North Laine in the sunshine.

The White Rabbit has a great location on the cosiest and busiest of Brighton’s famous North Laines. This means is ca get absolutely rammed in the summer with the tourists but its great most of the time. It has a modern décor with lots of pop art pieces of musicians etc. Its location it reflected in the price some what and it can be expensive of spending an entire evening there.
The menu can a bit hit and miss so I’d advice going for the simpler dishes as I had a Thai salad that see ridiculously overpriced for what I got. They also have on street seating at the front of the pub which has to be one of the best places for people watching in the city

A nice pub situated in the perfect spot of Kensington Gardens. It’s got outside seating which is brilliant for watching the hustle and bustle in the North Laines. It usually tends to be more busy early on in the evening, it seems to me most people start their night in the pub and move on to somewhere else. It’s rather large so you can always find somewhere to sit or stand without being hassled. A good selection of booze and the price is reasonable, there’s always fun crowds of people looking for a good time in there too.

I don’t understand why this place hasn’t received more positive reviews. Every time I’ve been there wasn’t a single hiccup. Suffice to say I’ve never eaten there but in terms of drinking and socialising I see no reason why the average Joe wouldn’t want to visit. I must say the clientele tend to be of a younger breed than your average pub so unless you’re willing to put up with a bit of noise and some boisterousness I wouldn’t recommend it. That said, it’s definitely not the kind of place that ever gets too rowdy so don’t worry about any agro. During the day I suppose it’s more of a family place but in that vein it isn’t the best pub in the vicinity. To sum it up I’d say it’s best as somewhere on the pub-​crawl route as opposed to the sole venue for a night’s entertainment.

This is a bit of an enigma of a pub. Previously, this was Gardens, a strange but intriguing place with a kind of indoor/​outdoor garden, that seemed like a good idea but never quite hit the mark.
As the White Rabbit, it’s similar. There’s defnitely a, reasonably effective, attempt to be cool and a bit different,. with some funky artwork and,. when I visitied, a roaming magician.
I haven’t eaten there, but the menu looked pretty enticing when I went. I’d really love to like this place more, but it just feels like there’s something intangible missing.

The White Rabbit is a bit of a strange one I think. It is quite nice inside, and I happily sat for hours using the free wireless, and felt pretty cosy. But at the same time the atmosphere of the place is not particularly individual and unique, it seems like it’s trying for some reason.
The food though is really nice, and seemingly come wind, rain and a little bit of shine, there will be people lining the tables outside, and adding to the open and involved feeling of the North Laines.

The White Rabbit lives up to its fantastical name in some respects, with its attention to décor but its more a cool muso bar displaying pop artwork of music icons. Its a little expensive but it has its amazing North Laines location to thank for that.
They serve gorgeous pub grub, including deep fried camembert and cheesey chip butties for you cheese fiends. A nice touch is the cute lil cupcakes for sale on the bar.
The pub is situated right on the most narrow street in the n. laines where visitors are overwhelmed with amazing independant stores, stalls and cafes. They have outside seating right on Kensington Gardens which is fab for watching the crowds go by.