Next stop Dover for Matt’s post-hardcore gig, and a chance to evaluate the state of preparations for Britain’s latest car park (aka the M26).
Oddly, Google Maps then sent us via the M2, forcing a late change in GBG-driven lunch plans. Ah, Faversham.
Underrated as a pub destination due to some folk’s preference for Harvey’s or Adnam’s over Shepherd Neame, but as perfect a little town as anywhere in the South-East. Whatever the Pub Curmudgeon polls say.
Plenty of Olde England, plenty of real town. Starting at the underpass.
I’m not sure what’s most attractive about Ticklebelly Alley; the name or the font. Matthew Lawrenson can decide.
Why do ALL Faversham’s pubs look so inviting ?
I wanted to pop in the latest Kent micro, which lacks the splendour of the Sheps estate, but benefits from an entry in the Guide.
“Ooh, can I go in there ?” said Mrs RM.
“No !” said Matt, aware that a) they don’t serve salted caramel fudge cake and b) Mrs RM would never leave once she’d seen the Beavertown taps.
Instead, I installed wife and son in the last free seat in the Spoons and loaded the App.
Note, if you will, the holy trinity of pub transport. Pushchair, bike and mobility scooter. I should get an award from the Faversham Flyer for that one.
I ordered them about 7,376 calories worth of food for a tenner on the app (Punk IPA for Mrs RM) and nipped back to the Corner Tap while they weren’t looking.
Craft bar/micro yes, but a bit more airy and pubby than the norm. And some folk didn’t fit the micro median (middle-aged bloke).
Some nice clear signage at the bar, a huge range of beers, and some Whitstable cask served from those taps that confuse the whole keg/key keg/cask issue that some folk get awfully worked up about.
The Pale Ale was on the chilled side of cool, which I’m loathe to complain about after a Summer of soup, but there you go. NBSS 3, tasty but a bit thin.
But here’s the thing. NO-ONE SAID A WORD. With no music or banter, just appreciation of beer, it was deathly quiet.
A youngish visitor came in, stared at the bewildering range of options, asked for something “hoppy” and ended up with Gamma Ray. #CaskIsDead.
I hurried back into the bosom of the Leading Light, where Family Taylor had hardly missed me, but left me hardly any of the salted caramel pudding (which is epic).
Sadly, I had too walk past the Elephant again on the way back past the station. What a pub.
retiredmartin 
Had you ventured up Ticklebelly Alley you might have found a bustling pub and some bargains !
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Just so I have this straight, you walked past the station so you could walk past the Elephant a second time; the Elephant not being on the way. I agree that it it is a beautiful pub, one that I have not passed by without entering.
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Yep.
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Well worth the walk.
You did lead me to discover that the Gunpowder Mill(which Google maps has in different two spots) is a Marston’s pub.
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A sign of quality.
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Richard, it’s a while since I set foot inside the Elephant, but unless things have changed for the worst, I wouldn’t have walked past the place. From memory, it’s one of the pubs in Faversham – unless you’ve already “ticked” it, I suppose.
You have to feel for Martin’s family, being dumped off in one of Mr Martin’s establishments, instead of being taken to a proper pub.
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Well Paul, if you’ve ever had that salted caramel sticky pudding you’ll understand the draw !
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We stayed at the Railway in 2012. Our room faced the toward the station. When in the shower you could wave to the people on the top of the double-decker bus through the full length window, and they could wave back.
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They could. But did they ?
I always forget just how many places you folk have been. There are people in Faversham who’ve never been to Faversham.
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Until we spend a full night in Manchester though none of our place ticks count.
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That “Flint & Sons” frontage will have been from before 1923 when that Canterbury brewery was acquired by Alfred Leney & Co of Dover who three years later were taken over by Fremlins whose trademark was an elephant.
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Martin, salted caramel sticky pudding sounds nice, but I bet it makes the beer taste disgusting afterwards. As a rule, I avoid deserts whilst I’m drinking as beer and sweet things don’t exactly compliment each other.
One last thing, as Peter Falk used to say, I’m avoiding Timbo’s establishments at the moment, salted caramel or no salted caramel.
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Columbo’s phrase actually was, “Just one more thing”, but you get what I’m driving at.
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I thought that was Russ correcting you there, Paul, before I remembered he’s on hols and I can make as many mistakes as I like for a week.
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I also avoid deserts while drinking beer.
The sand gets everywhere.
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That’s a classy way to demand a correction, Prof (applause).
EDIT: I’ve just realised it wasn’t my error !
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It won’t be long until a murky Salted Caramel Sticky IPA is brewed under a railway arch somewhere.
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Looks lovely. I may have to go there myself, even if I’m no fan of Shepeards Neame.
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Faversham is more than Sheps, of course, but there’s a host of their pubs you feel almost obliged to enter.
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Had a good chuckle at “the holy trinity of pub transport”!
Does that cask list at the Corner Tap qualify as “beers you’ve never heard of”? Or is it just me? 😉
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Oddly, the beers are close to what you’d expect, since it seems to be a showcase for Whitstable Brewery (in the next town). Actually quite an appealing beer range. Just too many !
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Whitstable brewery is near Maidstone I read.
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Oh, passing off their beers as made on the lovely Kent coast, are they ? That’s like Milton brewing in my own village of Waterbeach.
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