retiredmartin

There’s a lot of good beer in Gravesend, but walk a couple of miles west to mainly residential Northfleet and things dip alarmingly, as you’d expect near the Ebbsfleet football ground.  You could, at a push, walk to the George & Dragon at Swanscombe, but not today.

A succession of run-down pubs promote cheap lager, mostly from attractive looking shells. Some beautiful windows, and plenty of Meux memorabilia still about.

I got some funny looks and a few questions taking outside photos, even from across the road.  I can only guess they thought I was surveying potential purchases, though I didn’t look that business-like.  Some of the pubs were incredibly photogenic though.

Northfleet itself has a tiny centre based around it’s church, and a couple of Ye Olde type pubs.  The Olde Coach and Horses looks a classic coaching inn, albeit a bit neglected.

It’s new to the Beer Guide, though WhatPub warns of a changes of management and reduced beer range, which means Doom Bar, Hobgoblin or Westons.  I have an irrational dislike of Hobgoblin on principle, daft as it’s a decent beer.

So Doom Bar it is, served in a miserable lager glass by disinterested staff in an empty old-fashioned pub, at the extraordinary price of £1.90 a half.  But it’s pretty good (NBSS 3), and I wouldn’t deny it it’s temporary moment in the Guide.

I can see why publicans stock Doom Bar.  It tastes of something, good turnover means a reliable pint, and you probably haven’t got a clue what the guests taste like.  It’s certainly not a premium pint; some of the most basic pubs in Fenland Cambridgeshire stock it successfully.

The real star of the show here is the food menu though.

A menu stretching from cheesy chips to cheese burger and chips. What times we live in.