retiredmartin

August 2024. Canterbury.

A night in one of the UK’s top tourists towns, a million visitors a year, not all of them French and Italian teenagers either.

Crossing over the Great Stour again, as we left the delightful Dave aka @Asthouart to his tea and his wonderful art, Canterbury looked magical.

And who knew of the connection with Rupert ?

More famed for goings on at the big church dominating the centre,

and a collection of Guide entries, ancient and modern, few of which I could remember visiting over the course of 30 years.

I thought Mrs RM’s Instagram followers would enjoy the rustic micropub ambience of the Thomas Tallis, or possibly a Wetherspoons salted caramel brownie for pudding in the Thomas Ingoldsby, but instead it was a third Thomas that drew us in.

The new-to-me Thomas Becket was not only the first pub Mrs RM saw after announcing she needs the loo, it’s also the local CAMRA Pub of the Year, which is a virtual guarantee of a pre-emptive tick.

So well done to whatever small, independent, pub company runs this smart and cosy backstreet gem.

Oh, it’s Punch. Just shows.

I pick the Gadds, obviously, from a tight range, the chap on my left alarmed that his Thunderbolt is a whopping 6%.

“I won’t be having another one of those”.

“You say that NOW“.

Mrs RM heads for the ladies, I take the table next to an American couple contemplating desserts under the photos of dogs, which makes a change from the photos of regulars drinking WKD you get in Margate.

“Hand-made sticky toffee pudding from Cartmel, vanilla ice cream or custard (v) | 7.25 634 kcals“

Our second excellent Gadd’s Seashells of the say, cool and chewy,

and our second uplifting conversation of the evening, as a remark about Kathy and Wayne from Autstin’s shared sticky toffee pudding kickstarts a conversation about Trump, lidos, Texas stereotypes and the joys of real ale in real pubs.

We could almost have been talking to the Southworth twins, but I may have spotted Wayne tapping his foot to Hall & Oates, which is something Dick and Dave would never do (in public).

I asked our US visitors, who’d just completed the classic east coast route (Aberdeen, Peterlee, Skegness..), if they found random folk started up conversations like we’d just done, and was delighted to find they did. It’s why people love pubs, you know.