Maris & Otter

Walk into Maris & Otter and you'll find exactly what a good local should be: unpretentious, consistently good, and full of people who actually live round here rather than tourists looking for Instagram moments. The Western Road location puts you right in the heart of things, close enough to the seafront that you can smell the salt air, but firmly planted in the residential bit of Brighton where real life happens. The food is proper—nothing fancy, everything competent—and they take their drinks seriously with a rotating selection of local and regional ales that actually taste like something.