The Alma keeps its prices low and is genuinely part of the Uckfield community, a commitment Ben actively promotes. There’s a quiz night every Thursday. Local clubs use the private room for their meetings (no charge). There’s a monthly acoustic music night. A hall for larger gatherings is available for hire, and there’s a garden at the back. The Uckfield Brass Band practises there and Morris dancers visit in the summer months. It has a TV, a jukebox and a pinball as well as many of the traditional pub games.
Ben’s parents ran two Harvey’s pubs in Eastbourne and Polegate and his sister had one in Haywards Heath when Ben took over the Alma in 2010. Now he is the sole family survivor in the pub trade.
Pubs are struggling. The Covid lockdowns, he says, were brutal. He wasn’t sure if the pub could survive. It was also a lonely time, and with his Weimaraner dog Ralph, joining him as Covid began, together they got through the worst. But the numbers never recovered afterwards. Many older customers stopped going to pubs, finding their leisure choices more at home.
Ben knows that lifestyles are changing fast. Supermarkets are the main threat, but that’s why he encourages the more traditional pub atmosphere. It’s not just about a quick pint. It’s much more about the quality of life – friendships, shared interest, simple, direct communication between people face to face rather than online or gazing at TV.
Ben’s spare time, when he has any, includes clay pigeon-shooting, his motorbike, and walking with Ralph. And he is getting married. Another dog-walker set him up for a blind date with her friend. It was a date that went well…
The pub, one of the first 17 original Harvey’s pubs, has always been called the Alma. It’s named after a victorious Crimean battle in 1854, but “alma” also means “soul”. Could this friendly, spacious, and welcoming pub be the soul of Uckfield? If not, Ben, an ex-soldier, has enough faith in strong community values and connections to ensure that the Alma will continue to prosper and support the town.