Where customers become friends
July 18, 2025
The Robin Hood team celebrates winning Bravo Best Pub 2025
Ask Chris Dodd, business owner at The Robin Hood in Brighton, to sum up the pub, and he cites one of his regulars’ words: “We visited as customers and left as friends”. He says: “It’s a bit of a cheesy line, but it captures what the pub is all about: a welcoming, caring community that’s also a lot of fun!”
Chris and wife Anna started working at The Robin Hood in 2007, becoming the business owners in 2015. It’s telling that several team members have been there almost as long, helping Chris & Anna to turn this hidden gem, just off the Brighton seafront, into a thriving community pub, famous for its homemade flavoured vodkas – think Skittles and Werther’s Original – Monday Quiz Night, Sunday Piano Singalong and May Bank Holiday Street Party.
The pub is famous for its homemade flavoured vodkas
Chris & Anna came to the pub with a wealth of hospitality experience gained in their home towns of Abingdon and Clacton respectively, as well as Brighton. They immediately spotted The Robin Hood’s potential, as Anna explains:
“We have no outdoor space, so on sunny days we’re quiet, but we’re the ‘go to’ on bad weather days when people want a cosy drink and a board game.”
Customers are professionals aged 25+, with a high proportion of women. Anna says: “We’ve worked hard to make the pub safe space for women, and we’re a popular ‘first date’ choice: women know we’ll help them if they need to get out of the date – and our Scrabble and other games are great ice breakers!”
Proving The Robin Hood’s popularity, it was voted Best Pub in the 2025 Bravo Awards – a title they also won in 2019, as well as taking second place last year, and were named 2021 Pub of the Year by local paper The Argus.
People gather at this year’s Street Party
One of Chris & Anna’s proudest achievements is the annual Street Party, now in its 13th year. Thousands of people fill the small street to enjoy the outside bar, food stalls, face painting and music by local bands. Chris says:
“The Street Party has become this amazing event that embodies everything we stand for: friendly, inclusive, supporting local businesses and artists and most importantly, a fun day for all our customers.”
Chris’s Top Tips
- Give a damn!: care about every aspect, from the outside of the pub to the inside of the glass. If you don’t, your customers will know.
- Read your customers’ mood: every customer gets a proper welcome and goodbye. In between, we’re happy to chat to them all night, but equally we’ll respect them if they just want to sit quietly.
- Get the work/life balance right: we love our holidays, and we always return refreshed and inspired from seeing other pubs and bars while away. We’re lucky that we have a great team we can trust to hold the fort.