The Black Swan Pub

History of the Black Swan

One of the oldest surviving buildings in Pease Pottage, the Black Swan was known as the James King for several years in the 1980s and 90s in honour of one of the founders of the Horsham-based brewers, King and Barnes. When King and Barnes were bought out and closed down by the Hall and Woodhouse organisation in 2001, the pub reverted to its original name.

In 2008, Hall and Woodhouse closed down, and later demolished, The Grapes, leaving the Black Swan as the only pub in Pease Pottage. The nearest non-chain pub is the Royal Oak Inn in Handcross, about three miles to the south.

Barry Ray’s Slaugham Archives website includes many old photographs of the Black Swan dating back more than a century.

Features

The Black Swan has been renovated and extended numerous times over the years, as you can see by comparing the photo at the top of this page to this photo taken in 1900. In 2024, a revamp which apparently somehow cost £400,000 changed the building’s interior theme from that of a not particularly authentic olde worlde timber-beamed pub to something more like a twee family-oriented chain restaurant.

The Black Swan offers:

• Food: up-market pub grub, with prices that are more or less what you would find in a restaurant chain such as Pizza Exoress. The menu lists dozens of dishes (at the time of writing: 18 main courses, 7 types of burgers, 9 starters, 15 puddings, and more), which suggests either that there is a very large and well-staffed kitchen in a hidden basement or that much of the food is brought in ready-made and heated on the premises.
• Beer: The Black Swan still just about qualifies as a pub by offering a selection of Badger Ales as well as a range of wines, spirits and soft drinks.
• A sizeable beer garden, or at least an al fresco dining area, at the back of the premises.
• Car parking, including a few spaces reserved for blue-badge holders. A handful of parking spaces were sacrificed during the modernisation in 2024.
• Disabled access: the pub contains an accessible toilet and baby-changing facilities, and is accessible by wheelchair.
• Heated canopies by the front entrance.
• A function room.
• A free wireless internet connection.
• A defibrillator, located in a yellow cabinet on the exterior wall to the left of the main door as you face the building.
• Piped music, if you like that sort of thing, and even if you don’t.

Opening Hours

• Monday to Saturday: 12.00 to 23.00
• Sunday: 11.30 to 22.30

Meals are served:

• Monday to Saturday: 12.00 to 21.00
• Sunday: 11.30 to 21.00

Christmas Opening and Menu

The Black Swan is usually open on Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve, and closed on New Year’s Day. The pub sometimes offers a Christmas party menu throughout the festive season.

For up-to-date information about seasonal opening hours and menus, contact the pub.

Reviews of the Black Swan, Pease Pottage

(N.B. At the time of writing, some of these were a decade or more out of date.)

• Beer in the Evening
• Open Table
• Trip Advisor
• CAMRA

Location and Directions

Driving Directions

From the M23 (at junction 11) or the A23:

1. Follow the signs towards Pease Pottage.
2. Go past the motorway service station.
3. Take the third exit (i.e. turn right) at the small roundabout.
4. As you cross the bridge over the A23, you’ll see the Black Swan ahead of you.
5. Follow the road round to the left. The entrance is immediately to your right.

Access by Bus

• The Handcross District Community Bus stops outside the Black Swan, but not very often.
• Metro Bus routes 271 and 273 stop opposite the Black Swan, and route 20, which runs much more frequently than the others, stops not far away, near the motorway service station.

Similar, but not Identical

The Black Swan on Horsham Road, Pease Pottage, is not the same animal as the Swan on Horsham Road, Crawley, about 3 miles to the north.

Where Exactly Is the Black Swan?

Although the Hall and Woodhouse website (in 2025) gives the Black Swan’s address as “Old Brighton Road”, the entrance to the pub is actually on Horsham Road, as you can see on the map above.

Back in May 2018, the pub’s website described the Black Swan variously as a “pub restaurant in Crawley”, a “pub restaurant situated in Crawley”, and “a Pub Restaurant in Old Brighton Road, West Sussex, UK.” Hmm.

Contact Details

website

blackswanpeasepottage.co.uk

email

blackswan.crawley@hall-woodhouse.co.uk

phone

01293 612261

address

Horsham Road, Pease Pottage, Sussex, RH11 9AJ