Name change and new owner for award winning Bexhill pub

The award winning pub, in Egerton Road, has changed its name to The Ruddy Duck.

New landlady Lise took over this month from Jo and Ian Ayers, who had been running Traffers since 2019. She said: “I am totally chuffed with my new pub. Its a big pebble-dashed monster and I love it.

"There are big plans being hatched for the future, but for now keeping the doors open and the beer flowing is reason enough to celebrate.”

Traffers was named the ‘LocAle’ Pub of the Year by CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) in 2022. The LocAle initiative aims to promote pubs which stock locally brewed ale in response to growing consumer demand for quality local produce.

The bar, which is opposite the museum and Egerton Park, had been in the same family for generations. Ian and Jo Ayers were charge of the pub since 2019, when they took it over from Jo’s parents, whose parents before them owned it as a private club.

It has a reputation for live music and its range of real ales from independent brewers.

And the newly re-named pub looks to be keeping up its tradition of offering well-kept real ales, with three on handpump recently, including local favourite Harvey’s Sussex Best.

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