I was planning to go to this, but the packed trains (with that rarity of a 3pm Saturday PL game at Falmer factored in) are a deterrent. I might walk it, seven miles over the hills from Brighton, if I feel athletic. Others have already provided goodly pub guides that I agree with, but for what it's worth from a semi-local:
THE CLUB/FANS
Lewes' support has been tearing itself apart a bit recently. There have been those quirky match reports coming out under the supporters club umbrella. Lots of Lewes fans took offence to the snarky Champion Hill write-up, whilst their manager has been arguing with the writer on social media re another report that was so critical of Lewes that he had to cancel training because of how upset his players were. Meanwhile, 68% of fans/members voted in favour of accepting £5.1m to sell 51% of their women's team to an American investment group, Mercury/13.
I was at the Lewes v Charlton women's game the day after that vote result was announced (start of November) and things weren't as tetchy as I expected, but quite a few fans have announced they were binning their STs/support as a result of the big sellout. Ironically, talks with Mercury/13 then collapsed a week or two back, so they managed to split the fan base without even getting that £5.1m. The latest drama has been elections to the fan run board. Seven of the 13 people who stood were elected on Wednesday and their AGM was yesterday. No idea if anything kicked off there, but drama is never far from the surface amongst Lewes fans.
THE GROUND
One big change for this season is super fancy seating in the stand that runs along the river side of the pitch. This is actual Club Wembley seating (picked up from Wembley itself) with individual seats going for £800 each on eBay, so probably the fanciest unreserved seating you'll encounter at this level. Go sit in that stand if you want your bottom to feel fancy. Everywhere else is standing (apart from the weird branded beach huts), ie a big covered banked terrace by the turnstiles, small one behind the opposite goal and small embankment path (that they would probably be building a terrace or stand on if they'd got that £5.1m) opposite posh bum stand.
Food wise, their loaded fries (from a hut at the north west corner) are aces, especially the weird vegan spicy seaweed covered thing (Pirate Fries) but queues are long, so worth joining before the HT whistle if this is your thing. The queue is along the embankment so in view of the pitch. There's also a pie and mash hut at the south west corner, which has a much shorter queue (because it's just taking pies out of a hot box, innit). The queue for drinks is long but surprisingly swift as they usually have half a dozen or so staff on. Various cask and keg things on offer. The pitch had £750k of FA money pumped into it recently (largely because of Lewes' Tier 2 women rather than the men's team) so is marginally less likely to become waterlogged for a pitch which is an actual flood plain (hence the Dripping Pan name).
THE TOWN/PUBS
There are 18 pubs in Lewes and many hardy souls (myself included) have done them all in a day - yes it's a thing, albeit you might not be able to fit in the football. The ground is of course right by the station and the nearest pub (other side of the station) is the Lansdown Arms - this is the only shit pub in Lewes, in that 'townie station pub' way. Almost all the rest are within ten minutes walk, and those that aren't - like the Snowdrop on the far east or Swan (owned by a mate of mine) on the far west are la-di-dah gastro places that need not concern the drunken soaks on U75.
Half the pubs here are owned by Harveys, so if you like their frankly horrible insipid brews you're in luck. The Sir John Harvey Tavern opposite the brewery has the widest selection (and a lovely view of the Argos loading bay) whilst the Rights Of Man by the town hall is the least timelocked. The Gardener's Arms is where local CAMRA members go to compare farts. It's small and narrow but the ales are comparatively cheap and the staff only LOOK like they're going to spit in them.
The best pub in town by far (as someone else has said on this thread) is the Brewers Arms, close to the castle and bang next door to the former newsagents where Tom Paine invented the French and American Revolutions. Pleasingly it has two very different sections. Sky Sports and pool for the underage drinkers in the back bar; real ale and a chat about sciatica for the rest of us in the front bar. As well as a good selection of beer they also do Biddenden, an 8.1% Kentish cider that tastes like watered down apple juice and will be cited in the paperwork for your upcoming divorce.
And that is all I can tell you about Lewes, other than that last night was the first late night shopping of the festive season, so they cancelled all the buses. Yes Lewes, this great tofu sandal knitting green paradise, is where the local bus company officially reroutes every bus away from the town centre "to avoid the late night shopping traffic". Heaven forbid that any elderly, poor or generally non-Land Rover owning person from the outskirts or outlying villages might fancy a bit of late night shopping themself. FFS.
