The Howard in Hanover has been through a lot of changes in management over the past few years, but we’re really loving its current incarnation.
Run by Netty and Rich since mid-2024, it’s everything we want from a local: a warm welcome, music you can still chat over, good food, quirky decor, decent drinks (including Unbarred on the taps), loads of board games, pool and darts, a beer garden and even a super-cute pub dog (her name is Lola, she’s not a showgirl). They’ve really nailed that home-from-home feeling (if your home just happened to come with a Bloody Mary station and considerably more square footage).
Word has got out about their roasts, too. They won Marley Dizney’s best roast poll earlier this year, placed 12th in the Restaurant Brighton’s Bravos and are regularly booked solid on Sundays. Naturally, we had to investigate.
Yes, we know, it’s summer, not your typical roasting season. But good roasts are good whatever the weather. And this is a good roast. The people, it turns out, are right. We had an early booking but the pub was already buzzing.
You can choose from four meats (beef, pork belly, shoulder of lamb, chicken breast) or a vegan option – all priced at £18.50. We went for the chicken and the vegan nut roast. All the roasts come with crispy roasties, a huge fluffy Yorkshire pud and a gorgeous selection of veg on a lake of full-bodied, smooth meat or vegan gravy. The chicken got a big thumbs up from across the table too – tender, succulent and well-seasoned, according to its very happy recipient – while the nut roast was tasty, if a little heavy on the nuts for our liking.
We also loved the huge variety of veggies and flavours on the plate – butternut squash puree infused with cinnamon and star anise, sweet red cabbage, spicy green cabbage, honey and black pepper parsnips and carrots. These flavours could easily compete with one another, but they clearly know what they’re doing in the kitchen as everything just works. And it’s a welcome change to have some spice with a roast lunch.
On Netty’s recommendation, we also ordered a couple of sides, the pork, sage and onion stuffing balls (enough to take home for lunch the next day) and an incredibly moreish four-cheese (Camembert, blue cheese, Red Leicester, Cheddar) leek bake. Despite being full, we kept finding room for another forkful until we’d somehow eaten the lot. At £4.50, this felt very generous.
If a full roast feels overly ambitious, they also do a Yorkie wrap – essentially a roast dinner wrapped in a Yorkshire pudding (£13).
Everything is freshly made in their tiny kitchen, and we’re pretty amazed at what they’re able to do with apparently just one oven. You’d expect the service to be slow because of that, but food comes out swiftly and always with a warm smile.
Because we’ve never knowingly turned down a pudding, we opted for the homemade chocolate tart, which was a pleasingly decadent end to a lovely meal.
It’s worth repeating how great the atmosphere is in this pub. It’s the kind of place you want to keep coming back to. Luckily for us, BOTI Towers is nearby, so we will. Our next task: the tapas menu (Wednesdays to Saturdays). And if you need another reason to head over this way, they also do an open mic night on Tuesdays at 8pm.
We came for the roast, but left thinking we’d happily spend an entire afternoon here. A couple of pints, a game of darts, Lola wandering over for cuddles (ok, treats) and a table full of tasty food? Sounds pretty ideal to us.
The BOTI Lowdown
Best for: cosy home-cooked-style Sunday lunches with friends
Eat this: all of it! But definitely don’t skip the sides, especially the four-cheese leek bake
Drink this: a pint of Unbarred, then investigate the Bloody Mary station
BOTI pro tip: come hungry, settle in for an afternoon of games
1 Howard Road, Brighton, BN2 9TP
The Howard
