All the Small Things

Kent Micro Pub Tour Part III

Sunday would see us tackle Margate and Faversham, as well as visiting the somewhat legendary Butchers Arms in Herne.
We boarded the minibus at 10:30 and trundled across Thanet to Margate on the north Kent coast where the sun was coming out to provide us with some more fantastic weather.

To enable us to visit two lunch-time micro pubs whilst in Margate the plan was to be knocking at the door of the first at five-to-twelve.
But standing on the esplanade...what's that across the sands on the harbour arm?
That'd be a micro pub banner, and it looked to be open.

Early doors at the Harbour Arms

Inside the Harbour Arms

Harbour Arms (Margate Harbour Arm, Stone Pier CT9 1AP)
Now I have to confess that I had mixed feelings about finding a pub open for a beer at just gone 11am, what with a lack of sleep and the stomach still settling after the final 6% beer in Wetherspoons the previous night.
But I managed.
You really couldn't ask for a better setting - sitting on the benches outside, looking across Margate sands at the seafront buildings in the sunshine...
The pub originally opened in 2013 in a neighbouring unit which was once a fisherman's net store.
Three beers were available from Canterbury Ales, Mad Cat and Breakwater Brewery.  I opted for the 'Breakwater Best', a fine best bitter although I necked it rather too fast, instead of appreciating it. 
Because I wanted to nip into the amusement arcade.  In my opinion it's a necessity to experience the mild disappointment of losing a bundle of 2p pieces in the arcade when you're at the seaside.

Spot the rather dubious LP

A walk along the front later, we rejoined the rest of the group at midday at the second pub.

Two Halves (2 Marine Drive, Margate, CT9 1DH)
Yet another fantastic location - the Two Halves is on the sea-front road and once the windows were pulled fully open we were afforded a brilliant vista of the beach and the sea.

This micro pub opened in 2015 and in 2018 was named the local CAMRA Pub of the Year.
It had a very smart and fresh feel to it, with light walls adorned with a handful of pictures by local artists.  Casks were racked behind glass in a temperature-controlled room beyond the bar, with a good range of ciders also on offer.
I reckon the Mighty Oak or Oakham beers may have been slightly better, but I was doing so well sticking to local beers, hence plumped for a 'Spring Gold' by The Canterbury Ales. Right at the end of the barrel, I fear, and only so-so.

Just a few minutes walk around the corner was a pub that was a whole lotta different...

Fez (40 High Street, Margate, CT9 1DS)
Eccentrically decorated doesn't even begin to describe Fez.  This is a cornucopia of vintage objects, signage and peculiarities that have been collected with obvious unbridled enthusiasm.
I sat in an old barbers chair, then on the (slightly uncomfortable) metal seat of an old groundsman's lawn roller, converted into a small table in the window.
Seating by the other window was a waltzer carriage, whilst there were also old bus seats among'st the furniture.  The more you looked, the more eclectic decorations you spotted.  In rather less exciting days this used to be a card shop, before Fez was opened in December 2015.
It would all be kinda a let down if the beers were no good, but these were great too.
Just £3 a pint, with a choice of 4 interesting ales, the Mad Cat that I picked being in excellent condition.

We made a timely departure from Margate in order to ensure we made it to our next pub by 2pm.  The Butchers Arms had been closed as we passed the previous afternoon, but we were determined not to miss the place where the whole micro pub thing kicked off.

The Butchers Arms - the original micro

The Butchers Arms (29A Herne Street, Herne, CT6 7HL - web)
Well, what can I say?  It didn't disappoint.
Standing on a corner with red awnings, it's overshadowed - but completely unconcerned by - a large Shepherd Neame pub across the road.
Stepping inside, this sure is 'micro' with just two tables (the former butchers chopping blocks) and seating for 12 persons in a 12ft x 14ft room.

The cask room in the Butchers...and route to the toilet.

All sorts of bits'n'bobs hang from the ceiling, giving it a cluttered and characterful feel.
There's a little library of books in one corner including the micro pub staple of old Good Beer Guides, plus the less frequently seen 'Encyclopedia of Unusual Sexual Practices'.

Anyway...beers.  A nice simple selection of four ales, listed on a blackboard and served from a corridor just beyond the pub.  If you visit the toilet you have to walk back past these barrels to get to the solitary insalubrious loo.
I started with a pint of Old Dairy 'Über Brew', a refreshing pale 3.8% ABV beer which was delicious.  I also enjoyed a 'Copper Top' from the same Kentish brewery and apparently a bit of a Butchers Arms favourite.

The pub opened in November 2005 and was the inspiration behind many of the micro pubs that have followed since.  Owner Martyn Hillier is fiercely passionate about what he thinks a pub should be and was keen to chat to our group once he'd finished pouring the beers.

Weird things you find in pubs.

We had to leave as the pub was due to close at 3pm (although the locals didn't look like they were going anywhere fast!).  For us, it was a short drive to the last destination of the weekend, Faversham.  

Furlongs Ale House (6A Preston Street, Faversham, ME13 8NS)
This ranks as one of my fastest pub visits of all time - I really didn't do it justice.  Sorry.
Opened in December 2014, it was formerly a wet fish shop.  Now it's a long bar with tables along the sides on raised platforms and seating facing outwards, sticking with the communal theme where you can't huddle away in a corner.

I quickly polished off a half-pint of Brewery of Angels and Demons - 'Bombay Social', which was a fine, tasty ale.  The haste was due to the need to squeeze some food into the hour we had in town.  For this, the reliable speed of service in Wetherspoons beckoned...

Wetherspoons - The Leading Light, 20-22 Preston Street, Faversham

And on the same road, just a little further down...

The Corner Tap (37 Preston Street, Faversham, ME13 8PE)
The final stop...  Phew!  We'd seen A LOT of micro pubs of all shapes and sizes over the weekend.  Plus a couple of regular pubs, a brewery tap and the largest Wetherspoons in the country. 
The beers had been good everywhere.
Some places had been more appealing than others, but everywhere we'd visited had had it's good points.

My final beer of the trip came from Whitstable Brewery - 'Native Bitter' a basic brown beer at a sessionable 3.7% ABV.  I'd also managed to stick exclusively to beers from Kent throughout the whole trip which is a great sign for the counties brewing scene.
This last pub, The Corner Tap, was formerly a glazing shop, opened as a bar in 2016.  But whilst the other micro's we've visited had been owned by individuals, this was owned by Whitstable Brewery.  I felt this place was more of a craft bar than a micro pub, with 8 keg taps and 6 casks, plus spirits and wines.  But it was certainly doing a good trade on a Sunday afternoon, seemingly a popular local destination.

I'm worn out just writing about the trip.
I was definitely worn out climbing back aboard the bus for the journey home.
The folks who put together the initial itinerary for the weekend deserve a big nod of appreciation, whilst the biggest thanks of all goes to this man ( ⇩ ) who did all the driving.  Cheers!

"turn the lights off, carry me home".

She's In Broadstairs

Kent Micro Pub Tour Part II

Technically speaking 'we're' in Broadstairs, not just 'she's'.
But I'm not about to let that stop me using a Half Man Half Biscuit song for the title of my blog post.

"I'm on another planet, she's on the Isle of Thanet".

After dropping our bags off in our B&B in Ramsgate we caught 'The Loop' bus to Broadstairs.  A short hike through the residential backstreets from the bus stop took us into St Peter's and to the Four Candles micro pub and brewery.

Four Candles (1 Sowell Street, St Peter's, Broadstairs, CT10 2AT - web)
I'm a sucker for anything that calls itself Britain's smallest, biggest, longest, tallest etc etc.
Which is why I'd spotted 'Britain's smallest brewpub' with some enthusiasm.
This corner location was formerly a hardware shop although it has also being a florists, delicatessen and exotic meat shop at various times.  

The brewery is in the basement, taking up a space of around 3m x 3m and supplying the pub upstairs plus a handful of other nearby places.
Three of these Four Candles ales were available on our visit.  I picked the 'American Hopburst' which was a nice pint, although not bursting with hop flavours as much as the name suggested it may. 
The name of the pub, from the 1976 Two Ronnie's sketch set in a hardware store is not an unfamiliar one for Oxford folk, shared with our own George Street Wetherspoons. 

Somehow this Four Candles had a little bit of magic about it.  An appealing, small room with space for no more than around 20 persons, with a friendly, welcoming atmosphere and fine beers.

Leaving here we walked down St Peter's Road, left along Broadstairs Road, then right onto The Broadway where we found a pub with a name that gets straight to the point.

The Pub (9 The Broadway, CT10 2AD)
If you think the name is a little lacking in imagination, it's located in a former off licence which, according to whatpub, was called the equally self-descriptive Offy.
The Pub is only just over half-a-year old, opening on the 3rd November 2018. 
There were a selection of real ales and ciders plus 3 taps on the wall serving key-keg beers.  On this visit all three of those key-kegs were dispensing beers by Time & Tide, from which I had a half of 'Depth Charge' a respectable 5.9% stout.
A nice feature is the record player, just inside the door, on which customers are welcome to pick the music.

Select your soundtrack - vintage hi-fi at The Pub

On such a pleasant evening, we gathered around the large table on the pavement in front of the pub, whilst a number of us took advantage of the fish'n'chip shop across the road. We enjoyed out chips and drinks whilst one of the three guys behind The Pub, Max Bell, was keen to chat to us all about all things pubs and beer.

A little irresponsible seagull feeding later and we were on the move a short distance to another nearby micro pub...

Mind the Gap, Broadstairs

Mind the Gap (156 High Street, Broadstairs, CT10 1JB)
This micro has been open since 2016, which has given them plenty of time to collect a vast amount of railway tickets to cover the whole length of one wall, floor to ceiling.

Situated in an old shop, there are two levels, with the bar being up a couple of steps at the rear and seating to the front.  The casks, five available on this visit, were located in a refrigerated unit to the back of the bar, with supermarket-style sliding glass doors for the barman to get to them.

The bar and beer list at Mind the Gap.

I stuck with the dark ale, taking the 'Cast Iron Stout', brewed by Iron Pier, who are located in Northfleet.

Continuing along the High Street we soon came to the oldest and most characterful part of the town, where our next point of call was.

Magnet Micropub (37 Albion Street, Broadstairs, CT10 1NE)
Whilst I thought The Pub was new, The Magnet was even newer, opening it's doors in February 2019 after the site was converted from it's previous use as a restaurant.
To be honest, I've been in plenty of pubs and bars which haven't been any larger than this, so I reckon the title of 'micropub' is being stretched to the max here.
But that doesn't really matter.  It was a friendly place with great chatty staff and a pleasant, relaxed atmosphere on a Saturday evening.  Three hand pumps served up real ales, whilst craft keg beers were available, plus ciders and wide range of other drinks.
There were also board games a-plenty, plus shove ha-penny and table skittles. The skittles provided our entertainment as we tried, and failed, to master the technique of the bar game.

The Magnet.  Attractive.  I'll get me coat...

Leaving Broadstairs, we caught the bus and made the short journey back towards Ramsgate, alighting at the edge of town.
As The Conqueror had closed at 9pm the micro pub theme came to an end and were aiming instead for the Thanet CAMRA branch 2019 'Traditional Pub of the Year'.

Montefiore Arms (1 Trinity Place, Ramsgate, CT11 7HJ - web)
This proved to be a delightful back-street boozer, busy, full of atmosphere and deserving of the accolade 'proper pub'.
It's run by Eddie Gadd of the nearby Ramsgate brewery and it was one of their ales, Gadds 'Seasider' - a 4.3% best bitter, that I enjoyed here.
The pub is named after Sir Moses Montefiore, a centenarian who lived in the town for many years, was a former Sheriff of London and was a respected benefactor of the poor.
The Montefiore was everything you really need from a pub - friendly, talkative punters, pool table and darts, great well-kept ales and a real homely feel.

I'd decided I couldn't come to Ramsgate without visiting what was said to be the biggest Wetherpoons pub in the country. 
...from smallest brewpub to biggest 'spoons!
With this destination in mind, we headed through a very lively town centre where the music of live bands, DJ's or dreaded karaoke spilled out of the plentiful bars.

The Royal Victoria Pavillion (Harbour Parade, Ramsgate, CT11 8LS - web)

Wow!  This was a spectacular place, well worth seeing even though, technically speaking, after supping ales since the early afternoon I didn't really need a pint of 6% ABV Cattle Shed 'Cherryon Top'.

Not a micro pub.

The building dates back to 1903, a grand concert hall, designed by Stanley Davenport Adshead.  In more recent years it has housed a nightclub and casino but was in a dilapidated state, saved by the pub chain moving in and opening in 2017.
There is an enormous floor-space on the ground floor, plus balcony level seating and second bar upstairs.  The upper level also boasts plentiful outdoor seating overlooking a sandy beach.

With the clock ticking past midnight that was Day One over. 
Micro pub exploration was due to recommence midday, Sunday, in Margate.
Reports on that to follow shortly...

Returning to the scene next morning - 8am coffees in the Royal Victoria Pavillion

Kent Micro Pub Tour

Part 1

The late May bank holiday weekend saw a contingent from Oxford CAMRA heading down the M2 towards Kent.  Over the course of two days we planned to take advantage of the eastern part of Kent having such a proximity of micro pubs, visiting as many of these as possible, including the original where the whole phenomena started.

Reaching Whitstable at 1.30pm, our first stop was The Handsome Sam...

The Handsome Sam (3 Canterbury Road, CT5 4HJ)

Located at the southern end of the High Street, just under the railway bridge, this micro has opened in the premises of a former antiques shop.  The first drinks were served in November 2014 when former radiologist Chris Williamson finished the conversion to a pub.
The opening date marked the 4 year anniversary of the passing of Sam, Chris's much loved cat, adopted from an animal shelter and spending over 20 years with him.
As ways to remember your beloved pet go, this is a pretty spectacular one.  In addition to the pubs frontage, Sam appears on artwork, tea towels and beer mats within.

Guitars and pictures of Sam dominate the decor in The Handsome Sam.

The furniture is of a style that we'll see lots of over the coming weekend - a couple of large communal high tables, with all seating designed so as to ensure that anyone left standing is at the same height as those seated.  Plus no nooks and crannies and hideaways - it's laid out to have visitors looking outwards into the room to encourage conversation.

The temperature-controlled cellar room here is covered in canvas and labelled 'the beer tent', which was a nice touch.  Served from that tent were four local beers, poured straight from the cask, from which I picked 'CQB', a 4% pale ale brewed by Hythe micro Range Ales.  And very pleasant it was too.

It was just a short stroll down the bustling High Street of Whitstable to the second pub of the day...

Rock'n'Roll - The Black Dog, Whitstable

The Black Dog (66 High Street, Whitstable, CT5 1BB)
If you know your Led Zeppelin, it's no surprise to find that the owner of this pub is a huge fan and named the pub after one of their songs.
And amongst an assortment of quirky decorations is a model of the Hindenburg, from which the band took their name and which features on the cover of their debut album.
The pub was converted from a delicatessen.  One rectangular room, it's painted in darker colours bucking the modern trend of bright and airy pastel-shaded pubs. Walls are covered with numerous framed paintings.

My only regret was that we were on such a tight schedule that this was just a flying visit.  We had to make our humble apologies to the barman for not staying longer.
A swift half of tasty Tonbridge Brewery 'Velvet Raven' for me, then hastily back aboard the minibus.  

Micro Pub WC Shot 1: My Aim is True

From here we made a short drive eastwards to discover the delights of Herne Bay.

Bouncing Barrel (20 Bank Street, Herne Bay, CT6 5EA)
Admittedly, not the prettiest of pubs from the outside, but inside it's bright, with t-shirts and hops hanging from the ceiling and a friendly crowd of local folk.

Bouncing Barrel, Herne Bay

The Bouncing Barrel has seating for around 20 persons on large old workshop tables, with casks and cider boxes situated in a temperature-controlled room towards the rear of the pub.  There's no bar counter, so we form an orderly line to be served at the door of the cask room.
Of the three ales available, the Gadds 'No.5' was the most appealing to me and ensured I was doing a fine job of sticking to the Kent breweries.
The name comes from the bouncing bomb, the story of which was made famous in WWII movie 'The Dambusters'.  The barrel bomb was tested in the waters off the coast nearby.

Hop decorations and the origin of the pub name at the Bouncing Barrel

Micro Pub WC Shot 2: Seaside Postcard Sauce

I made a quick detour to see the sea before walking a short way down the road to the next pub.  The front at Herne Bay looked lovely now that the clouds were dispersing to give us a glorious sunny afternoon.

The sun shining on the sea-front at Herne Bay.
Lovely weather, but not quite enough to tempt Charles to take his coat off.

Parkerville (219 High Street, Herne Bay, CT6 5AD)
This was formerly Macs Music store.  It has two rooms, with the bar in the front and a stage for live music events in the rear.  Whilst the Bouncing Barrel had been very much ale and cider orientated, Parkerville displayed a blackboard with a large range of gins.
With four ales available on cask, I picked a 'Simcoe single-hop IPA' from Cattle Shed Brew Co, a 'craft' off-shoot of Old Dairy, located in Tenterden, Kent.

Micro Pub WC Shot 3: Note Edinburgh pub map - handy
when in Kent.

Around ¾ of a mile onwards was the Tankerton area of Whitstable where, you guessed it, there was yet another micro to pop our heads into.  We were on a roll!

Tankerton Arms (135 Tankerton Road, Whitstable, CT5 2AW - web)
This is a pub which puzzled me late at night, writing this post.  Almost all of the pictures returned by a Google search looked different to mine.
With a bit of investigation it turns out they've recently moved a few doors down the road from the first location they started at back in 2013.
The pub is run by Nigel and Patsy Ranger and named after the original (considerably larger) Tankerton Arms in the local vicinity, which closed in 1999.

It's a single room pub with ample space and most of the seating on stools and high tables. To the rear, by the small bar, is a snug area with a good selection of reading material and games.

Queuing for the ales at the Tankerton Arms.

The Tankerton Arms gets bonus points for bringing out two trays of sandwiches that were left over from a recent event and which were graciously gobbled down by our party.

We'd received some useful information from the locals we'd chatted to that our next planned pub, The Butchers Arms, was closed during the afternoon until 6pm.  This necessitating a change of plan.  One of their suggestions, diverting from the micro-theme, was a visit to the local Goodys Brewery.
Goody's Brewery (Braggs Lane, Herne Bay, CT6 7NP - web)
This was a great, unexpected delight!
The brewing kit was in a barn, with a tap room in a shed-like construction to the side of it.
The bar offered four of the breweries beers, as well as a wider selection of bottle conditioned ales, all with some kind of play on the word 'good'.
I picked 'Dead Good' a 4% amber bitter brewed with Kentish hops in association with the local Morris dancers.  Always a good sign.  Those Morris dancers know their ale.
Sat outside on the patio next to green fields in the sunshine, this was a tranquil and charming place, to kick-back and relax at the end of Saturday afternoon.

So, a brilliant day so far.  More on the evenings shenanigans in the next post ⇨

Oxford CAMRA chairman Pete, bouncing up and down with joy at the successful
detour to Goody's Brewery.

Up In Arms

An Oxford Pub Update

There have been several changes afoot in the local pub landscape this Spring.
With a long-shut pub re-opening and a couple of others completing big refurbishment projects, I decided it was high time to go and check them out.

First up, the Somerset pub, which was the subject of over three years of determined campaigning by local residents (SOS - Save Our Somerset) to retain the last remaining pub in the New Marston area.

The Banks's brewery pub closed in 2009, re-opening as a Chinese restaurant and cocktail bar.  This in turn shut its doors in 2014.  For all intents and purposes it looked as though the pub would follow others in the area and be lost forever.But now it's back, although it's not the Somerset any more...

Work in progress...

and there it is... 

Up In Arms (241 Marston Road, OX3 0EN - web)
The decor and feel of the pub will be familiar to those who've visited the Rusty Bicycle and Rickety Press, with all being run by the Oxford-based Dodo pub company.  You'll find up-cycled furniture and a bright, airy decor with quirky signs and pictures dotted about.
There's a run of small tables by the bar and a snug little bookshelf corner which would be an ideal cosy spot if it weren't next to the door to the gents.
To the side there are larger tables, ideal for groups.

The back garden is a bit of a winner though - covered seating in an old shipping container, table tennis on the grass and table football on the covered patio.  It's family friendly - on an after-work Friday evening visit there were numerous children running around outside, which you'll either think is marvellous or  will have you gritting your teeth and moving inside to the furthest, quietest corner.

On the bar Arkells brewery dominates on the keg and cask lines, although there are a couple of guest ales and a real cider.  I opted for local Tap Social Movement 'Hops Off the Press', a modern 5.1% cloudy IPA.  It didn't come cheap, although visit Monday to Friday 5-7pm and there are some good drinks deals available.
Food is wings, burgers, fries and pizza.  They also open early for breakfast and serve some quality coffee.

Ultimately it looks as though Dodo have found a winning formula to make this a success, diversifying to appeal to a variety of residents nearby.  It's pleasing to see this functioning as a pub again and long may it stay that way.

Back into the heart of Oxford...

The Grapes (7 George Street, OX1 2AT)

The George Street pub has seen plenty of changes in the past few years.  The Grapes was a Bath Ales pub when I first arrived in the city, then changed it's name to Beerd in 2015 as it became one of the only venues in Oxford focused on craft beer.  Then in 2017 it was The Grapes again, under the new ownership of City Pub Co.
After a spell with workmen inside and the windows covered, in what the Oxford Mail tells us was a £70k revamp, it has been re-opened in April 2019 by West Berkshire Brewery.

West Berkshire Brewery brew some great beers and you'll find these served on some of the seven hand pumps along the bar.  There's also room for guests from small local breweries.  It's the first time I've come across beers from Amwell Springs (from Cholsey, near Wallingford) in the city.
Thirteen keg taps also dispense an interesting range including tempting ales from Tiny Rebel and Tap Social when I last visited.  I managed to sample a fair few of the beers here, one of my favourites being West Berkshire Brewery's own 'Snake Oil', a 7.5% ABV double IPA which was rich, resinously hoppy and flavoursome.

The pub is well decorated in a simple rustic manner, whilst the new table layout is definitely an improvement.
Not being a foodie I can't really comment much on the menu here, except to say they've leaned more towards snacks and bowls of food to go alongside your beer, rather than big plates of traditional pub grub.


Sadly, a few doors down George Street, we've lost the Pint Shop which closed in February.  But that looks to have provided an opportunity for the Grapes to fill a bit of a gap, stocking up on the gins and varied craft ales.  I just have my fingers crossed that these will keep rotating with plenty of interesting guest and seasonal brews.

James Street Tavern (47-48 James Street, OX4 1EU - web )
Thirdly then, the Greene King pub, situated just off to the side of Cowley Road in East Oxford. The James Street Tavern has spent a month closed this spring prior to re-opening on 11th May 2019.
It's now run by the team who've been behind the Bookbinders in Jericho for the past 7 years.
Previously it was a pretty ramshackle and rough around the edges - 'lived in' and rarely deep-cleaned, I'd guess.
The 2019 re-vamp sees polished wooden floors at the front, new furniture and new lighting, generally smartening the place up.  The garden to the rear has been made a much more welcoming space.
In the past there was a run of hand pumps along the bar, but this has now been reduced and I've called in twice so far to only find Black Sheep 'Best Bitter' available.  And heftily priced at £4.60 a pint. 
The menu features French street food, which is different, but which I haven't sampled as yet.

For the time being, I'll put my judgement on the James Street Tavern on hold.
Y'see, I quite like my ramshackle, tatty boozers and think pubs will get very dull if they're all gentrified.  But at the end of the day, if it wasn't packing the crowds in, they need to change something if it's to keep existing as a pub.  That's why the Up In Arms is dramatically different to the Somerset which simply didn't appeal to enough people to pay the bills.

Just please don't smarten up the Star on Rectory Road, which is one of the few places remaining that reminds me of pubs I used to frequent back in my student days!