25 March 2026

Beer and sandwiches: At the Corner House in Worthing

This column is our weekly pub review, written by pintsmen, women and children across the nation. Suggestions to letters@newstatesman.co.uk

By New Statesman

Illustration by Marta Signori

It is easy to dismiss the Corner House, situated as it is just off a roundabout opposite the Worthing branch of Lidl. But those who can ignore its location are rewarded with a cosy, Victorian-style interior and friendly atmosphere. Its best feature is a delightful rear garden with booths nestled among living walls, potted plants and a grape-vine-entwined pergola.

If that sounds too bucolic, sit outside the front, whereyou can watch angry van drivers and shoppers vie for road position.

Returning to the back garden (as many do, when the swearing from the wound-down windows at the roundabout gets too much), you might find a DJ setting up stall between a couple of stout olive trees. This creates a dilemma for the pub’s older smokers, who have to decide whether they prefer plants and banging tunes to brake dust and expletives. You can observe them make this decision from the tranquillity of an inside table.

What’s on tap

The ales and lagers are pretty standard, with the stand-out tipple being a crisp, hoppy, German Bitburger.

On the menu

Like many gastropubs of its kind, the Corner House’s food offering reaches its zenith on the weekend. The usual roasts are offered, with the plates stacked high with huge Yorkshire puddings towering on top of whatever meat you selected – and it’s a fair few notches above most pubs’ Sunday efforts. One of the side dishes is pigs in blankets, and although I never order them, they usually appear on my table anyway. Maybe they are on offer in Lidl.

The Corner House, 80 High Street, Worthing, West Sussex

[Further reading: The everything shock]