Brighton's Best Sunday Roasts for a Hen Weekend
The big night is behind you and the trains home are hours away, so gather the group around one long table for the best roast in the city. From award-winning ember platters in the Lanes to proper pub roasts in Hove, here is where to spend a slow Brighton Sunday.
By Daniela · 9 min read · April 2026
Sunday is the hen weekend's gentlest hour. The big night is a fond blur, the bags are by the door, and there is just time for one last long lunch before everyone scatters to the trains. Happily, Brighton takes its roasts as seriously as its nights out, so whether the group wants slow-cooked beef over the sea, a sharing platter piled with trimmings, or a proper pub roast and a local pint, here is where to gather the whole table one final time.
Salt Shed at The West Pier
4.8 ★Down in the King's Road Arches beside the West Pier ruins, Salt Shed lets the view do half the work, and the bride will have her phone out before the gravy lands. Floor-to-ceiling windows frame the sea while the group works through locally sourced roasts and Yorkshires as tall as they are golden. On a bright Sunday it is one of the loveliest seats in the city for a group, so book a big table well ahead, especially in summer. If the arches are full, the flagship up in the North Laine will sort you out just as well.
Kindling Restaurant
4.8 ★Kindling is a charcoal steakhouse on East Street in the Lanes, and its Sunday roast has quietly built a following to rival the steaks. Everything meets live fire, which gives the meat a smoky depth you will struggle to find elsewhere, and the sides hold their own: brisket and jalapeno croquettes, charred hispi cabbage, the lot. It feels like a proper occasion without anyone having to dress up or behave, which is exactly the note you want on the last day. Book ahead for the group and let the fire do the talking.
Pearly Cow
4.6 ★Pearly Cow on King's Road made its name quickly, and the Sunday roast is a big part of why. The roast beef and pork belly are both outstanding, and the potatoes land with that crisp shell and fluffy middle you keep hoping for. It is a beautiful room too, all polished brass and soft light, so it photographs as well as the bride will want it to. Ask for a table by the window when you book the group in, and you get sea views with the trimmings.
Signalman
4.4 ★Halfway up Ditchling Rise, the Signalman does everything well without making a fuss of it. The roast is generous, the meat is cooked just right, and the Yorkshire puddings arrive the size of your fist. It is a genuine neighbourhood local with a cracking beer garden and the kind of easy atmosphere where a hen group can settle in for the whole afternoon. Book a table ahead and write off the rest of the day.
Ladies Mile
4.5 ★Circle Kitchen has set up residency at the Ladies Mile pub in Patcham, and the pairing is a quiet triumph. The roasts are phenomenal: pork belly crackling that actually shatters, tender beef rump, towering Yorkshires and a homemade gravy that pulls it all together. There is a sun-trap garden made for a long, lazy group lunch, and any age in the party will be well looked after. It sits a little further out from the centre, but one plate in and the cab fare stops mattering. Worth the trip, and worth booking ahead.
Lion and Lobster
4.4 ★The Lion and Lobster on Sillwood Street is a Brighton institution, and a brilliant one for a group: rooms upstairs, a buzzy bar below, and a roof terrace most people never find. The Sunday roast is the thing that brings everyone back, with generous portions and that warm, lively hum that makes a big table feel right at home. It gets busy and tables go quickly, so book the group in or arrive early. This is the roast for a hen party not quite ready for the weekend to end.
The Geese
4.6 ★Up Southover Street in Hanover, the Geese delivers a Sunday far bigger than its little frontage suggests. The menu goes further than most: pork belly, beef rump, garlic and thyme chicken, a beetroot and sweet potato wellington, even a vegan sausage, so the whole group is sorted whatever they eat. The trimmings are generous and the portions leave nobody wanting. It is cosy and unpretentious, well worth the walk up the hill, and worth a call ahead if there are a lot of you.
Bottom's Rest
4.6 ★Bottom's Rest on Lower Market Street in Hove is the pub arm of the Brighton Gin family, which tells you the drinks are in safe hands. The roast is hearty, the beer list is genuinely good, and the room has that relaxed, settle-in feel that keeps a group there long past pudding. Start with a Brighton gin and tonic, move on to a rotating cask ale, and let the afternoon look after itself. A lovely, low-key spot to round off the weekend, and an easy one to book a big table into.
The Farm Tavern
4.6 ★The Farm Tavern on Farm Road in Hove is the one to book when the group is split between meat-eaters and not. The sweet potato and walnut loaf and the smoked tofu pie are every bit as good as the pork, beef and chicken from local farms, so nobody draws the short straw. The signature Bloody Marys are a very civilised way to ease into a Sunday after the night before. There is an eastern-European tavern warmth to the place that makes it feel a little different, and it is well worth getting the group in early.
Embers
4.8 ★Embers on Meeting House Lane in the Lanes took the 2025 BRAVO award for Best Sunday Roast, and one plate explains why. Everything is cooked over embers, so the pork loin with apple sauce and scratchings carries a smoky depth that is faintly addictive, while the skillet roasties come crisp and the cauliflower puree is silk. It is one of the highest-rated restaurants in the city, which means tables are gold dust, so book the group in as far ahead as you can. If the hens only sit down to one roast all weekend, we would make it this one.
The Poet Ale Smokehouse
4.5 ★The Poet on Montgomery Street in Hove is a smokehouse first and a pub second, so the meat on your Sunday plate has had real attention paid to it. Expect slow-smoked cuts with a depth standard roasts cannot reach, and an ale list to match, with rotating guest beers for the beer drinkers in the group. It is friendly and properly down to earth, the sort of place a hen party relaxes into within five minutes. If the group loves smoked meat and a well-kept pint, that is Sunday sorted, so book ahead for a big table.
The Railway Inn
4.3 ★The Railway Inn in Portslade is a proper community local that takes its Sunday roast seriously. The portions are big, the prices are fair, and the cooking has earned it a following well beyond its own postcode. It is the kind of place you walk into as a visitor and leave feeling like a regular, which is no small thing for a group from out of town. It is a trip west, but for an honest, no-frills roast at a price the whole group will happily split, it is worth it. Call ahead so they can seat you all together.
The Bell Tower
4.7 ★The Bell Tower over in Kemptown takes the Sunday roast and quietly upgrades it. Served from noon to five, the menu runs to smoked beef picanha, rolled pork belly and a stuffed filo for the vegetarians, but the sides are the showstoppers: grilled carrots with pesto, roast beet puree and herb roasties that shatter. You can pile on jumbo pigs in blankets if the group is feeling indulgent, which after a big Brighton Saturday you very well might. It takes its craft seriously without taking itself too seriously, so book the table in and let the afternoon unfold.
Tapestry
4.5 ★If you want the roast to be the main event rather than the wind-down, Tapestry on Victoria Grove in Hove is built for it. Sunday lunch comes family-style, with sharing platters of meat or veg and unlimited seasonal vegetables and roasties carried to the table, which is exactly how a big group wants to eat. Then there are the Bottomless Sundays: an hour and a half of drinks alongside the food, with extras like cauliflower cheese to pile on. It turns a roast into a proper celebration, so it is one of the easiest on this list to build a hen lunch around. Book well ahead and tell them it is a hen do.
The Cleveland Arms
4.6 ★The Cleveland Arms on Cleveland Road has won awards for its homecooked roasts, and a single plate makes the case. The meat all comes from Sussex farms, the vegetables are seasonal, and the Yorkshire puddings and roast potatoes are precisely as they should be. The veggie and vegan options are the real thing rather than an afterthought, so a mixed group is properly looked after. This is a neighbourhood pub that takes genuine pride in the plate, and an easy, consistently excellent choice for a Sunday. Worth booking a big table ahead.
The Gingerman
4.7 ★Part of the Ginger group alongside the Ginger Pig, Fox and Dog, the Gingerman is, to our mind, the pick of the family. The Sunday roast is refined without being fussy: roast beef, pork belly or a squash pithivier for the vegetarians, all beautifully plated with seasonal sides and excellent value for the quality. It is small and intimate, just off the seafront on Norfolk Square, so a hen group needs to book well in advance to get everyone in. This is the roast for when you want the last lunch to feel like a real occasion.
Petit Pois
4.7 ★Petit Pois on Ship Street in the Lanes is a French-leaning bistro that cooks a limited run of Sunday roasts, and they sell out fast. The slow-cooked pork belly with crackling, the roast chicken in wild mushroom sauce and the beef are all superb, and the duck-fat potatoes and honey-glazed carrots are the kind of sides you will still be thinking about on the train home. It is a small, charming Lanes room, so a group needs to book early to land a Sunday table. Get in quick and it is one of the loveliest lunches in the city.
The Roundhill Pub
4.5 ★On Ditchling Road, the Roundhill is fully plant-based and has rewritten what a pub roast can be. If the group, or just the bride, fancies a proper meat-free Sunday lunch, this is the place: vegan roasts loaded with flavour and every classic trimming cooked exactly right. It is not only the food either, with sustainable zero-waste wines, local craft beer and proper cocktails to see the weekend out in style. The atmosphere is warm and the crowd loyal, which tells you most of what you need to know. A hearty, feel-good finish to a hen weekend, and an easy table to book for a group.
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