I ate at the elegant West Sussex pub that's had a stunning makeover – 'gorgeous food in a gorgeous location'

The St Mary’s Gate Inn was closed for 10 weeks to allow the work to happen, which included installing a new kitchen, updating the inn’s 10 bedrooms, and refreshing the fixtures and fittings

Of the investment, £350,000 was contributed by brewer Hall & Woodhouse (H&W), while Dave Skinner, the pub’s Business Partner (tenant), also contributed an additional £150,000. It reopened in March, and is now serving a new menu.

I was invited along the newly refurbished pub to review a meal with my family, and to take a tour of the new space and bedrooms.

Before you’ve even entered the pub, it’s hard not to be wowed by its location. Sat in the shadow of Arundel Cathedral, it’s a stunning location and I think it’s a great start or end point for a walk around Arundel and beyond.

And the pub itself is lovely, too. It’s everything you want a pub to be – cosy, welcoming and serving top-notch food. The renovation has seen muted greens and natural tones introduced to the furnishing, giving it a classy modern twist yet still maintaining a traditional feel.

The staff were so friendly, and talked us through the specials and main menu. It all sounded do good, but we had to make decisions and so for starters I had a chorizo and apple sausage roll served with red pepper relish (£8), while my husband has the salt and pepper squid bites (£9). I thought the sausage roll was a really good size, so filling and obviously home-made. My husband loved how fresh the squid was. My children shared a selection of homemade breads (£7.50) and it was enormous! They loved them so much, but I had to keep reminding them they had main courses to come!

For mains, I went with the quinoa vegetable salad with halloumi (£19 plus £5 for the halloumi). It was surprisingly filling, and felt very virtuous. My husband went for something off the specials menu – the slow roast pork belly with black pudding mash, asparagus and cider jus (£20) and declared it delicious.

My children both has the macaroni cheese from the children’s menu, which they adored because it was ‘so cheesy’ and the cheese was ‘so stringy’.

It’s always hard to say no to a pudding when the menu looks as good as this one, so we didn’t! Saying yes meant I tucked into a sticky toffee pudding and salted caramel ice cream (£7.50) – sublime, my husband had a crème brûlée from the specials menu, which came with raspberry sorbet, while my daughter loved the Eton mess (£7.50). My son has a scoop of raspberry sorbet (£2.50) and said it was ‘the best sorbet ever’.

After enjoying some drinks and letting our meal go down, I asked to see a couple of the inn’s newly done rooms. They felt classic and elegant, with blue-toned furnishings that felt quite luxurious. And best of all, several of them have fantastic views of the cathedral next door.

I really couldn’t fault the experience. It was a meal to be remembered, and one I hope to repeat again soon.

The St Mary’s Gate Inn is a sister pub to The Lamb Inn at West Wittering.

The St Mary’s Gate Inn is open seven days a week from 11am until 10pm Mondays to Saturdays, and until 6pm on Sundays. Food is served daily from midday. Please visit www.stmarysgate.co.uk to view the new menu or call 01903 883145 to reserve a table. Follow @StMarysGateArundel on Facebook and @stmarysgateinn on Instagram for more information.