BITE user comments - robertsdover1968
Comments by robertsdover1968
The rather ordinary red brick exterior of The Railway Hotel leaves the first time visitor totally unprepared for the very impressive and well kept Victorian interior of this deceptively large Shepherd Neame pub next to Faversham station.
My partner and myself have visited on a couple of previous occasions and have always found the welcome pretty reasonable but the Sheps beers somewhat predictable. So we were nicely surprised to find a guest beers on hand pump - Lancaster Bomber - which made a far more acceptable alternative to the other brew on - Masterbrew (yawn).
Our brief visit was somewhat spoilt by a group of blokes who had obviously had far too much to drink and had become rather loud.
A decent enough place, particularly if you've got time to fit in a final pint before catching the train home.
14 Mar 2011 21:16
The Old Wine Vaults, Faversham
My partner and myself visited the Old Wine Vaults as part of a Faversham pub crawl last Saturday.
Cannot really fault the Vaults for the look of the place - all stripped wood and comfortable chairs. The bar also looks inviting, but it could do with one or two more beers on draught to maker the place a really impressive destination.
Ales on offer during our visit were: Hopdaemon - Incubus, Tring - Side Pocket for a Toad, and Hook Norton Brewery - Old Hooky. There was also a real cider if I remember rightly.
Have a look at the menu but didn't eat. Looks as if they've got some interesting grub on offer, including some unusual burgers - Venison and Rabbit!
Worth another visit next time we're in town.
14 Mar 2011 21:02
While it's difficult to pinpoint what exactly is wrong with The Leading Light, there is definitely something amis.
My partner and myself have visited this Wetherspoons in Faversham on a number of occasions, but it's never really satisfied. The place is clean, the staff are ok and the range of beers on offer are normally both varied and cheap. However, the pub lacks a pleasing atmosphere and the little it does have is somewhat spoilt by the less desirable and chavvy members of Faversham's community.
On the plus side, we were pleased to try the Beau Porter from the Tunbridge Wells Brewery (4.8%) - spot on and very tasty.
14 Mar 2011 20:42
My partner Karen and myself have visited The Bear on a number of occasions in the past and have always gone away pretty pleased with what be saw and drank.
Sadly, since our previous trip to Faversham, things don't look to have been going well for the pub. The kitchen is closed for the foreseeable future and the lease is up for grabs.
Being a Shepherd Neame pub the choice of ales was limited (Master Brew and Early Bird) and the atmosphere was spoilt by a group of middle aged people who seemed to be on some sort of mixed stag/hen do - and were much the worse for wear at only 1.30 in the afternoon. The barman wasn't too impressed with them and his mood remained surley when he served us.
Such a pity that things are not what the should be here as The Bear retains many original features and is worth a visit for this reason alone. The pub is a long, thin building, split into three small rooms, accessed off of a single long corridor and served by a single bar running parallel to it.
Hopefully, the next tennants will restore the pub to former glories.
14 Mar 2011 20:24
Visited the Phoenix yesterday as part of a crawl with my partner Karen.
It's an interesting old building and a lot of the wooden fixtures look like the date from around the 1950s-70s mark (difficult to say), the building itself is obviously a heck of a lot older.
Pleasant enough visit and the food as pretty good (best chips I've tasted for quite some time, yum!), but, sadly, the choice of beers was pretty uninspiring - a couple of Adnams brews (The Bitter & Broadside), Tim Taylor Landlord and Harvey's Sussex Best. We opted for Broadside and Harvey's, which seemed pretty well kept.
The fireplace here is massive and would be very welcoming on a bitter winter's day, but for March it was a little bit much after a while.
This pub has won the Best Newcomer catagory in the Great British Pub Awards 2010, not sure what sort of competition it was up against, but well done anyway.
Worth another visit, just hope the beers on offer are a bit more interesting next time.
13 Mar 2011 20:56
Vistited the Elephant in Faverhsam for the first time yesterday with my partner Karen at the start of a pub crawl around the old market town.
As soon as we entered, we knew that we loved the place. Clean, interesting and a good choice of beers on hand pump - Wantsum Miller's Mirth, Goacher's Real Mild, Hereford Brewery Knight's Templar, and finally Hopdaemon Dominator. Great to see three out of the four ales of offer being local Kentish brews.
The landlady was pleasant, but not overly chatty, and the other people in the bar were friendly withouth being intrusive.
The decorative colour scheme of dark green and cream works very well with the stripped floors and there was plenty of interesting items on the wall (mainly naval themed) to look at.
The beers we tried (Knight's Templar and Goacher's) were so impressive we decided to call back at the Elephant after the rest of our crawl. Luckily enough, by the time of our second visit in the late afternoon, they'd added a fouth beer (Hopdaemon Golden Braid) which was as good as the others.
All in all, a very nice couple of visits to the Camra Swale Pub of the Year 2007-2010. We look forward to returning in the summer to take advantage of the inviting looking sun-trap garden.
Oh yes, they've also got a friendly pub cat called 'P', she like strokes and will sit on your lap for ages if you let her!
13 Mar 2011 20:38
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The Louis Armstrong, Dover
The Louis Armstrong doesn't seem to have changed very much since the first time I visited donkey's years ago.
Externally, the place looks a bit worse for wear. The pub sign with poor old Louis Armstrong on it, which dates back to the days when Charrington had the house, has almost faded away to nothing. However, things are much more welcoming and interesting when you step inside.
The Louis is a real, proper boozer, make no mistake about that. Once through the door the year could be anything from 1973-83 and most of the decor certainly dates from that period - including the massive etched mirrors and yellowing jazz posters (a reminder of the late Bod Bowles, former landlord and Jazz fanatic - his wife, Jackie, continues to run the pub) .
The seats are all comfortable (I would swear that they came from the old Post Office Club prior to its demolition years back) and the staff, on the whole are very friendly.
Beer wise, it's a pretty good place for real ale fans. There are usually between three and four on hand pump at any given time - Skrimshander seems to be a permanent resident .
The pub has made its reputation on live music, particularly Jazz, which can be heard most Saturday nights. Friday nights are often devoted to Rock and Metal acts.
It will be interesting to see what happens to the Loius when Jackie Bowles finally gives it up. I would imagine that it's a goldmine waiting to be uncovered. It just needs somebody with a few quid to invest in the place and the nouse to build on what has already been acheived there.
Always worth a look at the weekends.
16 Mar 2011 16:25