please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Small cellar bar with good range of ales. Possibly slightly food orientated at lunchtime. A pleasant venue for a good pint.
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A tick from the 2016 GBG while in the town for football. This upstairs café and restaurant has a lower level bar that’s perfect for whiling away an hour or so.
Feel’s like an underground cavern as the ceilings are quite low in the bar part with a larger more open area for diners through a small arch, the toilets are also this way.
4 ales on the handpumps, my pints of The Millers Canterbury Ales @ 4.2% were both very good. Only 1 other punter in when we arrived but the place filled up within 30 minutes.
A nice bar with friendly service and if I remember correctly reasonably priced drinks. Worth a visit as in the Firkin ale House a few doors up.
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Popular pub with a great feel to it. A good selection of beers- Gold Top, Snow Top, Resolution and Adnams Lighthouse on my recent visit. I can't understand why the pub is not back in the Good Beer Guide.
There's live music on offer and Happy Hour finishes at 7pm.
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Cannot understand why this pub is no longer in the CAMRA GBG. The beers are as good as ever, (local Kent breweries). I had a fine pint of Westerham on my last visit.
The staff are always friendly and chatty and there is a good atmosphere.
The pub gets quite busy in the evenings and appears to be popular as an eating place. I can't comment on the quality as I've never eaten here!
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Popped in again recently and pleased to find the beers are still of good quality. Three local brews, Whitstable, Gadd's Dogbolter and Skrimshander plus Adnams Iceberg.
Not too busy and the staff were friendly.
Good selection of magazines and flyers concerning various upcoming events.
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Like the Tardis the pub is far bigger inside than it appears from the outside. This cellar bar covers a large area. The choice of beers is always good with a selection of local brews always available. Gadd's, Hopdaemon and Whitstable were all featured when I visited. The staff are friendly. I've not tried the food at all.
Lots of info available regarding events, especially concerning local bands, concerts and festivals.
Popular with students. The place has a leftfield feel about it. My favourite pub in Folkestone!
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Cellar bar thats bigger than you initially think. Beer as below a gem of a pub.
anonymous - 1 Oct 2009 10:57 |
My mates were a bit suspicious that I was leading them into a coffee shop, as that's what the upstairs actually is, but they settled down once we were downstairs and they saw the handpumps. It can feel a bit studenty, as most of the staff seem to be, but they do know their beer and provide a friendly service. There is always a good selection of beers and ciders and even when the pipes are being cleaned they'll draw the beer straight from the barrel. I recall Henry's IPA, Ramsgate Bitter, Dogbolter Porter and Skrimshanker IPA and we tried all of them during the three visits we made over as many days. There's a beer festival over the Easter weekend with some strong ales and ciders.
Rating gone from an 8 to a 9 as they've kept up their high standards.
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Really loved the chilli - the level 5 was tasty without being too hot for comfort. Well-kept beer, cheery staff, great atmosphere. I agree with the earlier 9/10 comment.
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Went to The Chambers last Tuesday for the first time. Impressed with the food and atmosphere. Not the cheapest but I couldn't fault the steak.
jb332 - 26 Oct 2008 19:23 |
Folkestone�s best pub, and (well deserved) CAMRA �s local branch pub of the year. Following a few visits to this place, it�s joined that hallowed group of hostelries that get 9/10.
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Out in the provinces you're lucky to find anywhere with more than three hand pumps working. This place regularly has five. And a couple of decent ciders too.
The food's good. And there's a beer festival over the Easter weekend.....
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No visit to Folkestone town centre is ever complete without a visit to The Chambers, and last Monday was no exception.
The usual mixed bag of clientele who all seem to rub along with each other. I had only been in there a couple of minutes and two friends, each from different other parts of Kent, strolled in within a couple of minutes of each other.
It's just one of those places where you never know who might come in that you might know.
I'm just sorry that I could not get to their beer festival at he weekend, but enjoyed an excellent pint of Eddie Gadd's "Ship of Fools" at 6.6%.
It ticks all the right boxes for me and still warrants a deserved 8/10.
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There's always a really good selection of ales, and the food is excellent. Good friendly service. Will keep on going back
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A rare gem in Folkestone that one woulnd't necessarily know about without prior information. This could so easily have been a chav's pool playing paradise, but, although there is a pool table, it completely avoids the lowest common denominator and has cleverly combined a discerning drinkers' bar with a selection of well-kept ales, and a younger person's haven with music and games. The two sides peacefully co-exist and it is a model of how two supposedly polarised ends of the pub market can be served under the same roof.
The comments below say it all and I thoroughly endorse them.
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Previous comments just about sum up The Chambers. There's something to appeal to everyone from young, trendy gadabouts to miserabnle old curmudgeons such as I.
Staff are very friendly and efficient. They're also multiskilled, in so far as they can actually talk and serve at the same time - a welcome plus in my book!
I had a pint of excellent Ringwood "49er", followed by an equally impressive Hopdaemon "Skrimshander" - and not at Simple Simon's (q.v.) exhorbitant prices. Also on offer was Adnam's Bitter and Eddie Gadd's No5. The fifth real ale was "Engels" ( English ) from Brouwerij de Molen ( The Mill Brewery ) in the Netherlands.
For afficionados of yellow fizzy stuff - an interesting choice on offer - Bitburger, Grolsch and Hoegaarden.
And if a pint of Old Tooth Rot is your tipple of choice, The Chambers can offer you either Thatcher's "Cheddar Valley" or Biddenden "Bushels".
One word of caution - mind your head if you are over 6'4" - the ceilings are a little on the low side. All in all, this is my favourite non-pub in Folkestone, and worth a good, solid 8/10.
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Great basement bar with good beer and good food.
The bar staff are always friendly and the customers always seem to be a good crowd. Young and trendy without being pretentious.
Always come here (almost ritually) before gigs at the Leas Cliff Hall. A great pre-gig venue!
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A basement bar. A great place for a lively evening - and it even sells real beer! Frequent live music, and occasional quizzes and even film showings. Good atmos, youngish crowd - but more the t-shirt and ale type rather than trendy club-gear and lager - OK that's a hopeless over generalisation, but I hope you get the drift. Coffee bar upsatis good too.
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Beer festival again this Easter weekend, from Thursday to Monday, TONNES of guest ales and ciders, these are always top weekends...
pauly - 22 Mar 2005 09:58 |
Excellent atmosphere. Slightly on the expensive side. Really friendly staff. Great selection of ales. Food is cheap tho. If your over 6 ft 3, you wont like it as youll forever be crouching be warned
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its a great pub, and ticklin the pickle are a great band
Chris J - 1 Sep 2004 15:15 |
Another beer festival August bank holiday, get there early
Pauly - 25 Aug 2004 15:20 |
From outside it looks more of a club or a wine bar than a pub and not the sort of place I would normally choose to visit. However I was drawn in by the list of real ales advertised and was pleasantly surprised, where else can you find Theakstons Old Peculiar and Wadsworth 6X on adjacent pumps, and the quality was excellent. There are two bars with plenty of room and the place has an underground cavern feel to it. An eclectic clientele mixes well with the trendy young beautiful people drinking harmoniously alongside the real ale enthusiasts. CAMRA newsletters and local information leaflets are available and there's an unusual little alcove near the main bar where the telephone sits. A good place for a beer.
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Chris,look forward to some more good fun & music Jun 13- see you then, Jim Bainbridge
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love the live, unamplified music, lets have more!
anonymous - 10 Apr 2004 19:02 |
beer festival on over easter weekend.
rebecca - 9 Apr 2004 16:54 |
Something for everyone here, pool table, good jukebox 3 different style bars (pub style, cafe style and club style), pool table, real ales and cider, food, and did I mention they have a pool table? The only negative point is when it's full it's too smokey, as it's underground, so not great ventilation.
Pauly - 27 Oct 2003 11:01 |
Lively Cellar pub with a good range of lagers and real ale's. Attracts a fairly young croud. Serves mexican food which is nice but portions are stingy and it's too expensive.
Johnny - 15 Oct 2003 15:38 |
