And they call it madness

Found a watering hole this week which allowed his companion to go full-on naturist

Iknew Mrs SD would be interested in a Madness tribute band, and she’s always appreciated a dough ball, but I was surprised she chose to go naturist!

I’ve passed the Penny Theatre on Northgate many times but somehow never quite managed to get through the door, and Mrs SD reckons she’d never even noticed it before.

But last Friday our senses must have been heightened because, having conducted our business in Canterbury city centre, I didn’t need to ask her twice.

From the outside this looks like a small, cosy pub that might end up packed if a full football team decided to pop in together.

However, it’s deceptive and, the clue really should have been in the name, it’s an old theatre and the space inside is positively voluminous.

The pub is divided into different areas, much the same as the theatre probably used to be, and there’s a cosier, smaller section at the front and a massive, high-ceilinged hall at the back with a stage at the far end.

The line-up of pumps looked impressive and there was a chart behind the bar listing the qualities and strengths of each of the brews.

There were a number of the usual suspects but I decided to try a 5.6 per cent Siren Soundwave IPA and was pleasantly surprised by just how zesty and refreshing it was. Mrs SD went for an Interpunkt Sauvignon Blanc and was equally impressed.

Our barman Ben was very welcoming and a great frontof-house ambassador for this ‘upper level’ of Craft Union pub, owned by Stonegate, the UK’S biggest pub company. He was ably supported by Chloe and she too was friendly and chipper.

It was the menu which brought out Mrs SD’S more

adventurous side as she agreed to a naturist pizza on the proviso I chose cheesy dough balls and we shared the lot.

The food arrived swiftly, though not before I taken a good look round and been amazed not only by the size of this place but also the number of screens it boasts – does anyone know of a pub that can

beat a score of 23 screens?

All these were showing either motorcycle racing or Sky News, in which absolutely no-one was even the slightest bit interested.

The food was fresh, tasty and arrived at exactly the right temperature – I’d describe it as pub grub, but darned good pub grub and the pizza, including the topping, was excellent.

There was a good mixture of folk in for a Friday lunchtime and a pair of ‘louder-than-life’ ladies from Kings School, who were ordering large white wines, turned around to us saying: “Don’t judge us, it’s been a long week.”

The wine suppers were then joined by a couple of hi-visclad artisans taking a break from their manual endeavours to enjoy a couple of cold ones before the weekend proper got under way.

Ben’s worked at Penny Theatre for a year and, having moved from Brighton, says he loves Canterbury and continues to enjoy working here.

There are wooden floorboards throughout and there are some fantastic oldfashioned beams, it’s a good mix of old and new. The stage at the far end of the old theatre houses a pool table and dartboard but they are moved aside to make way for bands when they’re hosting live music.

It was decidedly cooler in the old theatre area of the pub than it was at the front but I’m sure it warms up considerably when large groups of sports fans are in to watch a game.

The beer garden and smoking area, advertised on the front window of the pub, is colourful and well laid out – there are, of course, individual screens for every table.

I’ve had a request to include relevant information, so here you are – dogs are not only allowed but welcome, I didn’t see any stairs at the front and there is a ramp towards the

garden, but I’d check full access details with helpful Ben or Chloe, the Madness tribute band play on April 12 and the ladies’ loos can be found upstairs, with the gents, which were fresh and clean, on the ground floor, my second pint was a Black Heart from Brewdog.

To conclude, I enjoyed the Penny Theatre and will definitely return to watch some live music as soon as I get the chance. And, now I come to think about, the size of the place makes perfect sense given the name. And both Mrs SD and I need to walk around with our eyes wide open in future in case we miss another interesting pub. Oh, by the way, the head drops off the Black Heart stout remarkably quickly.

The main room, clearly created from the old theatre, is huge with an extremely high ceiling and an equally large TV screen at one end