The dated brick exterior is now at total odds with its slick interior. The bar area is one of unalloyed pleasure to the eye, and sitting at cream seats at the bar is encouraged.
Mustard-coloured walls and modern paintings give way to a raised dining area.
Moleskin-coloured chairs add a further dash as do the smart dark wood tables but I am mystified why the owner – Dave West from Chichester's vast Nags Head – thought it a clever idea to have a slit by each place in the tables to drape your napkin in.
The menu reads excellently, and promises just the kind of food you hope to find on a menu in a wine bar-cum-casual-diner. It's really a brasserie menu. Do I feel like a three-course meal today? Or cod and chips? Ham hock? A bowl of pasta with chillies and tomatoes? A seafood stew? Or what about lobster Thermidor, a plate of antipasti or skewered marinated meats and vegetables topped and tailed with warm French bread?
Prices range from £8 for smoked salmon and scrambled egg on buttered toast to £25 to £30 per person for a two or three-course meal in the evenings, when the set menu is offered alongside the a la carte.
Let's get the service out of the way before whipping the napkin from the gash in the table. Mine host seemed a tad uncaring about whether this customer lived or died. The only other member of staff present, a Spanish waiter, was having his ear bent by an old soldier intent on telling him all about Spain, so he was out of the picture. Meanwhile, Host, sitting at the bar, was oblivious to all around him.
Old soldier finally drew breath, the Spanish waiter released himself with dignity and the ball rolled. Why is it so tricky for some Brits to be hospitable?
The waiter proved excellent, and my seafood stew with five different fish and shellfish, tomato, potato and saffron was soon winging its way from the kitchen. It was served on a large square bowl with sloping sides, so the stack of Gruyere-stuffed bread had nowhere to go but to slide into the soup.
A side plate might have been useful, but I did get a finger bowl and dish for discarding shellfish. And it was a good, unctuous soup with a scallop, some white fish fillets, mussels and prawns plus chunky potatoes and some wilted tomatoes on the vine.
Desserts include gooseberry crème brulee, treacle pie with apricot ice cream and panettone and white chocolate bread and butter pudding. My lemon tart was shipped in from somewhere that deserves closing down. But, hey ho, the fish stew was a success,and the stylish place is an undoubted bonus.
If Restaurant 12 could roll out the hospitality carpet and crack the desserts, the Swan would well and truly relegated to the past.

Restaurant 12, 12 Westgate, Chichester, West Sussex. 01243 539336.
Open: 11am-11.30pm Mon-Sat; 11am-11pm Sun.
Food: ****
Service: ****
Atmosphere: ****
Disabled access: Yes, but no designated disabled toilet.
Smoking: Terraces out front and back for puffers.
How to get there: Exit the A27 at the Tesco roundabout (the first one on the A27 going east), follow the main road (Cathedral Way) to Via Ravenna, turn left on to the Avenue de Chartres to the Westgate roundabout. Restaurant 12 is here. Parking on-street.