Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Best pubs In county
The guide names The County Hotel, which is slap bang in the High Street and a Wetherspoon venue. It is situated in a building which was probably built in about 1710, became an inn around 1890 and was named the County Hotel in 1926. Described in the Guide as “spacious” with one bar and three separate seating areas, the pub features a regularly changing selection of real ales and ciders.
CANTERBURY
Rebuilt in 1902, in London Road retains original embossed windows and outside toilets, and is decorated with memorabilia.
In Stour Street the Foundry Brew Pub is the home of Canterbury Brewers & Distillers. Guests can expect six ales usually on tap, all brewed on site. The Unicorn in St Dunstan’s Street draws praise for its garden and regular guest beers from several Kent microbreweries. New Inn and
Alehouse, described as the city’s first micropub, round off Canterbury’s entries this year.
CHATHAM
The Thomas Waghorn, a Wetherspoon pub in Railway Street, is named after postal pioneer Thomas Fletcher Waghorn, a Chatham-born naval officer and merchant seaman who developed a new postal route from Great Britain to India. CAMRA praised its ‘interesting and unusual guest ales.’
DARTFORD
Four pubs made the grade, including the in Market Street - the town’s only micropub - and in Great Queen Street, with its U-shaped bar and log-burning fire.
In Essex Road the a finalist in 2017 for CAMRA National Club of the Year, is praised for serving 15 ales on handpump, plus ciders on gravity.
Malt Shovel in Darenth Road is described as a “traditional pub in the country style” dating from 1673.
DEAL
One of the county’s original micropubs, Just Reproach in King Street has a “welcoming ambience” and good selection of drinks, but drinkers would be well-advised not to let their mobile phones ring while supping their pint.
Farrier in Manor Road wins plaudits for “a friendly environment with a real community feel”, and in Middle Street is described as an “unspoilt, traditional inn” situated in the conservation area.
DOVER
At the Breakwater Brewery Taproom, which opened in Lorne Road in 2016, cask ales from the brewery are served on gravity along with the pub’s own house ciders. Wetherspoon’s ‘bustling’ Eight Bells in Cannon Street makes the list.
The Louis Armstrong, in Maison Dieu Road is an iconic local venue known for live music and real ales.
Neil King behind the bar at the Firkin Alehouse in Folkestone can be traced back to 1574. The pub is home to a unique feature, walls and ceilings covered in handwritten messages from cross-channel swimmers.
FAVERSHAM
In Market Place the Shepherd Neame-owned The Bear Inn is described as a “regionally important historic pub interior with wood panelling”. It is noted for its Kentish ales. Popular micropub in Preston Street is described “an established feature of the local drinking scene” with beers dispensed from taps on the wall behind the bar in the front room. The Elephant in The Mall is a two-roomed traditional freehouse and has won numerous CAMRA awards, while
Ale House in Preston Street is the town’s first micropub, opening in 2014.
EDENBRIDGE
Housed in a former florist’s shop, the Secret Cask micropub was opened in the High Street in the summer of 2018 and is making its Good Beer Guide debut this year.
Owner Simon Dismorr says he is delighted to be recognised.
FEZ
GRAVESEND
MARGATE
The town’s first micropub, the Firkin Alehouse in Cheriton Place is praised. Landlord Neil King said: “It’s great to be in there again. It’s been a bit of a tough year, but we’ve adapted, and it’s good to be recognised.” The recently-expanded Bouin Bouverie Road West, gets its first listing, with the guide noting it serves drink early “for those who like a hair of the dog with their breakfast”. The Chambers, in Cheriton Place, has a spacious cellar bar with six handpumps beneath a licensed coffee shop at street level.
East Cliff Tavern in East Cliff is described as a “friendly terraced back-street pub” which dated from 1862.
Kipps’ Alehouse, in Old High Street, is similar in style to a micropub, serving real ale directly from the cask.
Four venues in Gravesend merit inclusion, including the Compass Alehouse in Manor Road, a micropub which opened in 2014. Regular events include a weekly games night and bi-monthly Belgian beer tastings. In Wellington Street the Jolly Drayman is noted for featuring “quirky low ceilings and a
relaxed atmosphere”, while at Town Pier the Three Daws is a “historic riverside inn with stories of ghosts, press gangs, smugglers, secret tunnels and more”. Three Pillars in Wrotham Road completes the Gravesend entry.
HYTHE
The Three Mariners in Windmill Street, a traditional corner twobar pub not far from the Royal Military Canal, receives praise for the “excellent quality and selection of real ales and cider” on offer.
MAIDSTONE
The Flower Pot gets a mention, and was described by our very own Secret Drinker as “definitely one of the best pubs you’ll find, not only in this part of Maidstone, but right across town”.
The Cellars Alehouse in Buckland Road offers a wide selection of drinks and evening entertainment, and the Olde Thirsty Pig in Knightrider Street - originally a farmhouse within the estate of the Archbishop’s Palace - offers beers mainly sourced from Kent microbreweries.
Rifle Volunteers in Wyatt Street is a Victorian stone-built single-bar venue, listed on CAMRA’S Regional Inventory of
Historic Pub Interiors, and in Middle Row The Stag makes a return to the Guide.
MARGATE
Recommendations are the eclectically-furnished micropub Fez, which opened in 2015 in the High Street, and the Two Halves micropub in Marine Drive, a local CAMRA Pub of the Year in 2018 where the “beer and cider are kept in immaculate condition”.
PEMBURY
A refurbished freehouse under family ownership, the King William IV in Hastings Road has been given a new lease of life as a thriving community pub and is making its debut appearance. Landlady Siobhan Hanley, who took over the running of the business in October 2018, says she was “ecstatic,” adding: “It’s a proper boozer where people come to chat and have a good beer.”
QUEENBOROUGH
The Admiral’s Arm micropub in West Street has a strong nautical theme, including local shipping maps. The awards have been plentiful, too, with the pub named the local CAMRA Pub and Cider Pub of the Year 2018-2020 and Kent Pub of the Year 2019.
RAMSGATE
The Royal Victoria Pavilion is celebrated. It opened in 2017 and is Britain’s biggest Wetherspoon pub. Elsewhere, the Artillery Arms in Westcliff Road has a “tradition of stocking a carefully considered range of real ales”, while Montefiore Arms in Trinity Place is described as showcasing the beers of the Ramsgate Brewery, changing guest ales and Biddenden cider.
Red Lion in King Street is, according to the Guide, probably the oldest surviving pub in Ramsgate.
ROCHESTER
The 12 Degrees micropub in the High Street offers a wide range of real ales. Also in the High Street, the Golden Lion Hotel is a Wetherspoon pub, while the Man of Kent Ale House is described as an ever-evolving destination with a sun-trap garden.
The uniquely-named
Ha’ Thought It in Baker Street is praised as a “friendly backstreet local” with a rotating selection of beer.
SANDGATE
The Inn Doors micropub gets its first listing. A cosy setting is the perfect place to sample the beers brewed by landlord Gary at the Four Candles brewery in Broadstairs.
SITTINGBOURNE
Opened in 2017, Donna’s Ale House in West Street offers five regularly changing beers chalked up on a blackboard, but also stocks more than 100 gins. Paper Mill in Charlotte Street consists of just the one room, with bench seating around four large wooden tables, while low Stocks in the High Street is a micropub which opened in September 2018 in what used to be a clothes shop.
TUNBRIDGE WELLS
Fuggles Beer Cafe in Grosvenor Road has a “distinct European feel” with cured meat and cheeseboards, open sandwiches and salads on offer to accompany a good pint.
The George in Mount Ephraim is described as a Georgian coaching inn that has “rediscovered itself as a smart and friendly pub”, while the Grove Tavern in Berkeley Road is home to a “display of images of fondly remembered former patrons, friends and their dogs on the far wall”.
Mount Edgcumbe, Opera House, Royal Oak, and the Sussex Arms also feature.
WHITSTABLE
An attractive town- centre micropub named after a Led Zeppelin song, the Black Dog in the High Street offers five changing real ales as well as up to 25 ciders and perries. In Canterbury Road, Handsome Sam has walls “adorned with modern art and guitars”, while in the high street is described as a “friendly and traditional town-centre pub”.
several Kent venues have been named annually by the Campaign for Real Ale, for ales and atmosphere.
Kent spots making the grade...