November 2024. Denton. Kent.
A few days down in Rye, perfect for a slow mop-up of Kent GBG entries,
which, by law, MUST include one in Ramsgate and one is a remote Downs village only Kentish Paul and Pauline have heard of.
This year that village is Denton, as far removed from its namesake in Greater Manchester as you can get, remote but only 20 minutes from the unholy trinity that is Folkestone, Dover and Canterbury.
Not much happens in Denton, whose Wiki page doesn’t even mention the Jackdaw,
and most of the gentlefolk custom have tootled over from the big cities of Rhodes Minnis and Sibertswold.
There’s only one other non-diner, and only one cask beer,
though as you’ll know “one beer is plenty, often etc etc“.
I was DES, so Mrs RM got to have a pint of local homebrew (I assume) called Tribute, though she was immediately miffed she wasn’t having one of the huge cream teas I’ve skilfully failed to capture behind those flowers.
Despite the fire, the couple of seats for non-diners around weird little barrels aren’t comfortable, though comfy enough for folk to turn up in slippers.
That chap had kindly had the first pint, and the second pint was therefore a foamy NBSS 3+, matched with some artisanal Two Farmers crisps.
The Jackdaw was used in the 1969 Battle of Britain film, the one with the stellar cast;
See how many you can spot in the photos below.
An oddly contemporary soundtrack, where “contemporary” is 40 years ago, gives us “Hungry Heart” and one of those weird US hits that never made it over here.
It’s all quite pleasant, in a genteel village dining pub way, but though the German bombers have gone the Asian Hornets remain,
and I bet they’d have picked on Mrs RM if we’d overstayed our welcome.
retiredmartin 
The first Denton that sprung to my mind was Denton, Ohio.
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Birthplace of (some of) The Pixies !
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How much Springsteen do you hear in pubs? I can’t think of a time I heard him played in a pub.
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A lot more in recent years.
Mainly “Dancing in the Dark”.
Matthew is seeing him live next year. I never have.
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I haven’t either. Always seems like old man music to me.
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“Not much happens in Denton” – so it’s rather like the Manchester Denton’s railway station which recorded 54 passengers this year, one a week, but twenty more than the previous year.
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I live not far from Shippea Hill, another contender for least used station. But the less used it is, the more the appeal to tourists.
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I remember when trains stopped there more frequently and the guard announcing it and adding that there’s no ships there and no hill.
Yes, it’s got a rarity value, like Humphrey’s cask Yorkshire Stingo.
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Stingo on in London pubs now.
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Yes, reminds me of five years ago and my trip to London for four pints of it.
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Note that the sign shows that the Jackdaw was a Tomson & Wotton (of Ramsgate) house – possibly still serving Tomson & Wotton beer when filming was in progress, as the brewery closed in September 1968 after being acquired by Whitbread that May. (1968 was a very bad year for brewing in Kent, as Whitbread also closed Mackeson’s brewery in Hythe in May, and Cobb’s brewery in Margate in October after taking it over in January.) The brewery memorabilia pedants will spot that both the Tomson & Wotton Cavalier advertisement outside the pub and the Fremlins ashtray inside are of post war vintage.
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The two Pauls will love that detail – thanks !
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