retiredmartin

April 2025. Gillingham. Kent.

Will Adams, Past and Present, Frog & Toad.

What a run of pubs* you get in Gillingham, and the Frog is a joy for those who prefer unimproved pubs of the Plough/Stile ilk. Mrs RM may not have been quite so sure of its appeal.

All the action takes place in the front bar, and I squeeze my svelte frame into the last chair by the window,

“Any normal person would have asked the fat b*****d to move” says the guy in the Union Jack T-shirt, and I immediately remember why I love Gillingham pubs. Even the Barge, where I was attacked by a sheep in 1997.

Your choice is a pale one from Wantsum or another pale one from Wantsum. At least it’s not Landlord.

I thought the cask was top notch, but then I like Bass so no nowt about beer, apparently. But I can tell condition, and care, and turnover, when I taste it.

The soundtrack is “Don’t Stop Believing“, the banter is unbelievable;

“Don’t ask ME about your tablets; I haven’t got a Sharon Tate“. Huh ?

At the pumps, the young barman asks “Are you Leon’s dad ?”. That’s a question you don’t get asked in a Brunning & Price. I wonder if he means elite runner, Spoons ticker and top bloke Leon Foster, but it’s irrelevant as ChatGPT confirms I’m not his dad, either.

The SS Richard Montgomery (not Bass, sadly) is an earthy 3.5+, rather like the Frog & Toad itself,

and while I leave it after 45 minutes to its bottle of Prosecco and Sharps cider, and “Come on Eileen“, I know one day I’ll be back.

*R.I.P. Dog & Bone