National Inventory Pub Crawling: Kent and Sussex

The first pub on our Kentish crawl in April 2006 wasn't on the CAMRA National Inventory, but as it was the 2005 Regional Pub of the Year we thought it would be worth a visit, and indeed it was. The Shipwrights Arms at Oare is out on a peninsular just to the north-west of Faversham, and lies several feet below sea level behind some crude sea defences. A mixture of differing building styles are evident, with copious amounts of weatherboarding being the main feature. Climbing the steps onto the banks offers a lovely view along the river, and the pub is deservedly popular with local sailors (the chandlery and boat yard next door may help a little). The pub has several small rooms and offers a radio but no other extraneous noise - there are no jukeboxes or games machines here. A range of Goachers beers was available; the Original was a day past its best, but the Dark Mild at 3.4% was excellent, as was a pint of Hopdaemon Golden Braid. Other beers on offer included Whitstable IPA, Goachers Shipwrecked and Westerham British Bulldog, and the prices ranged from £2.30 to £2.50. The food was good here as well - not the best pub food we've had, but a perfectly reasonable ham, egg and chips, and a good local seabass with new potatoes and vegetables. The only slight disappointment was that we didn't see the reputed pub ghost!

From Oare we moved on to Broadstairs, a surprisingly quaint place, to visit the Neptune's Hall, where we paid £5.40 for a pint of Shepherd Neame Early Bird, and a half each of Best and Master Brew. The Best was fine and the Early Bird acceptable, but the Master Brew wasn't at its best. The pub itself is fairly basic: a big place with bench seating and separate drinking areas. There are two outside doorways, one indicating the public bar and one the private, but both doorways now lead to the same space (according to the National Inventory, the pub's original five rooms were reduced to three). The back of the central wooden bar is particularly impressive.

We finished our first day in Canterbury, which doesn't boast any NI pubs but which is always worth a look round. We called first at the Eight Bells, where we each had a very well-kept pint of London Pride at £2.40 a pint, after which we had a superb Mexican meal at CafŽ des Amis. We were so full after the meal that we didn't have much more energy for drinking, but we managed to squeeze two more pubs in. The Bishop's Finger had three beers on handpump, of which we tried two - Shepherd Neame Early Bird and Bishop's Finger, at £5.30 for the two pints. The beer was OK, but we ended up sitting outside to avoid the football. We didn't stay for another, opting instead to move on to the Unicorn, which had four beers on handpump, of which the most inspiring were Grand Union Boudicea and Caledonian Deuchars. We paid £4.60 for the two pints, the cheapest we found in Canterbury.

The following morning, we girded ourselves and moved south onto Romney Marsh and to the Red Lion at Snargate, a pub that has been in the same family since 1911 and which received its award for 20 years' GBG entries in 2004. The National Inventory describes the pub as a "marshland timewarp", and it really does feel like stepping back in time. There is loads to look at in the pub, including a lot of World War II memorabilia and a wide range of old-fashioned pub games, and the lovely old pub piano has a variety of music on top for anyone who fancies playing. Two very enthusiastic dogs followed us around while we were exploring the three small rooms and tiny service hatch to the old public bar, now no longer used. There were four beers available, all served straight from the cask, of which we tried Goachers Mild and Goachers Light; we paid £4.40 for the two pints, both of which were in superb condition. The landlady was very friendly and chatty, and told us that Goachers had brewed a special beer, 90 Not Out, to celebrate the 90th anniversary of her family taking on the pub.

After reluctantly dragging ourselves away from the Red Lion, we moved briefly into Sussex to visit first the Havelock at Hastings, and then the Ram at Firle.

The Havelock (which was named after Sir Henry Havelock, 1795-1857, and not after Havelock Ellis!) serves only keg and Guinness, but is worth a visit for the impressive pictorial tile panels on the walls, which earned it its place in the National Inventory Appendix and presumably also its Grade II listing: a battle scene, a castle wall and a boat scene, as well as decorative tiling around the lower half of the wall.

Just off the A27, the Grade II-listed Ram offered an improvement when it came to the beer: Harveys Sussex Bitter at £1.90 a pint was a welcome price but nothing very special, although a certain person I know describes it as one of the better, no frills (or thrills) session beers available. However, we had just caught the end of the lunchtime trade, and a gang of happy locals were saying their farewells whilst continuously ribbing the young barmaid (who'd accidentally broken her boyfriend's nose with a punch during a recent argument, and was now being hailed as the new Rambo), who was happily giving back as good as she got. Rather strange banter to walk into, but although the initial impression of the building was of a rather dank, basic, uninspiring place, she was quite chatty (once she'd stopped being so embarrassed about some of the language that'd been flying about), and introduced us to a friendly local who'd just walked in, and the pub stayed open for us (the new owners had been there less than a year, and the whole place was still in a state of flux), so it gets big plus points for that. This chap was very knowledgeable about the history of both pub and village, and it transpired that he was the Butler at the "big house", the whole village being part of the Firle Place estate. It had been built as a coaching inn, and later on it was used as a magistrate's court. Our new friend and the pub cat lifted the gloomy atmosphere (not helped by the three large rooms being full of dark wooden tables, most of which seemed to be in the wrong room, and thus requiring urgent relocation in readiness for a large party that was due in later). So we sat and chatted about the locality whilst the owners played at being furniture removal men (badly and loudly!) for the afternoon, but we ended up enjoying ourselves nevertheless.

Then it was northwards and back into Kent, and the Grade II-listed Queen's Arms at Cowden Pound: a "three-star" entry in the 2003 (tenth) edition of the "Classic Basic Unspoilt Pubs of Great Britain". As there are only 13 pubs on that list, I thought it would probably be good - and I wasn't disappointed. I didn't resent paying £2.50 for a pint of the only beer they sell, even if it was Adnams Bitter - as it was a superb pint, probably one of the best pints of Adnams I've ever had. The locals were very friendly and chatty, and at 7pm two plates of free sandwiches were placed on the bar! The main bar is small and very basic, and there is a second room (for functions and music) with an unusual triangular serving area located just behind the door. They host folk nights on some Saturday evenings, where the rumours of free sausage rolls have some basis in fact (they certainly did them a few years ago when Andrew was last there).

The Old House at Ightham Common - another Grade II-listed National Inventory pub - was our final stop on this trip. The main bar here had a huge fire made up in the inglenook fireplace, but we opted for the big chintz armchairs in the smaller, cosy sitting room. We were astonished by the prices here: a mere £4.40 for a pint of Gravesend Shrimpers Bitter and a pint of Oakham JHB, amazing for this part of Kent. The pub is out of the way and difficult to find; there is no obvious sign as the old pub sign is weatherworn and illegible. However, a visit here will reward the patience needed to find the place.

Sophie Watson

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