FINALLY ! AN UNSCUFFED HARVEY’S GLASS. THE MARINER, FOLKESTONE

December 2025. Folkestone. Kent.

Leaving Folkestone Harbour Arm, with its scary giant seagulls that look like they’ve escaped from Squid Games,

we suddenly find it’s nearly half three, the Golden Hour for photos before dusk.

Time for a trip along The Stade, replete with souvenirs from the feral Ultras of South London visiting Folkestone Victoria.

Sunny Beach is home to the sort of art that will probably get me kicked off Bluesky (again) if AI reads this post.

Fun Fact : Bigger than the one in Copenhagen. Probably.

It’s Mrs RM’s birthday today. She’s a good ‘un, and to prove it she nipped in The Mariner before I had chance to say “But you said we were having a day off pubs, Mrs RM“.

The Mariner impressed me when it debuted in the Guide before COVID, and although it’s dropped out since, it still gets good beer scores, and is hard to beat for a cosy pint.

OK, they’re playing James Blunt, but I think we can agree that James’ reputation has been completely rehabilitated of late. No ?

It’s changed hands recently, but Landlord Steve was a great host, and the beer range will still appeal to the 98% of non-CAMRA members who like to see a beer they recognise,

particularly one with a Christmas hat on. You know how festive I am.

Mrs RM had apparently shouted “We’ll share a pint” as she nipped in, with me 150 yards ahead, but frankly I’d never share anything with her, and the Sussex Best and Proper Job look gorgeous in branded glasses.

Note, especially, the fat glass for the St Austell (NBSS 4) and the thin, unscuffed glass for the Harvey’s NBSS 3.5). I know nothing about brewing, but I can guarantee you beer tastes better in a proper pint glass.

The Mariner seemed to have lost the Old Boys from 2019 discussing pubs they’ve been banned from, but the equally riotous members of Ashford, Folkestone and Romney Marsh CAMRA will be here this Saturday for their Proper Christmas Day Out,

unless CAMRA HQ see that banned word “crawl” first.

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Published by retiredmartin

Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.

32 thoughts on “FINALLY ! AN UNSCUFFED HARVEY’S GLASS. THE MARINER, FOLKESTONE”

  1. Not impressed by the latest fat Proper Job glass, the previous incarnation was much preferred. I thought the era of marketing people fannying around with “branding” by unnecessarily changing pump clips, glasses or bar runners had ended in these straitened times for the industry; St Austell must be bucking the trend. Kernow bys vyken!

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      3. Of matters Celtic, I was once in the State Bar, Glasgow. “I have nae seen ye for a while” said a regular to the barmaid. “Och, I’ve had a week off” she replied. “Well ye should ha’ tried honey and lemon hin” he finished.

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      1. I have just subbed to this fab blog. Love the minimalist travel sections too, that is me all over unless going in car with Franc when I throw about 3 different coats in and all sorts.

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      2. Martin, I used to blog in the past – travel stuff, mystical stuff (when I was on the dark side). This one was a whole new fresh start in it. I am inspired by your blogs a lot even though I am not a beer woman 😀

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      3. I very much like your personal style (and conciseness !) Lana, and your willingness to venture into the unheralded parts of the UK, like when you visited Newbiggin on your North-East trip.

        Solo holiday in north east England (loads of photos)

        I hope my blog isn’t too “beery” ! I’m much more interested in the social function of pubs than beer, and they’re also often the most attractive features in town.

        Just about the worst thing you can see outside a pub is an advert for “Psychic night” (often spelt wrong).

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  5. Etu, indeed it is. My Cornish is a little rusty. Haven’t been to Cornwall for a few years but I seem to remember a seasonal beer called Nadelik Lowen (spelled it right this time)

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  6. “FINALLY ! AN UNSCUFFED HARVEY’S GLASS. THE MARINER, FOLKESTONE”

    (looks up)
    Paul Bailey will swoon when he sees that.

    “with its scary giant seagulls that look like they’ve escaped from Squid Games,”

    Does anything ever really escape from Squid Games?

    “Sunny Beach is home to the sort of art that will probably get me kicked off Bluesky (again) if AI reads this post.”

    (looks down)
    Indeed. Though, if you had a spare witch’s hat leftover from Halloween (who doesn’t), you could have placed the witch hat on the statue’s head and defended yourself by saying you just wanted to prove how cold it was.

    “Fun Fact : Bigger than the one in Copenhagen. Probably.”

    The statue? Or the… whatsit?

    “It’s Mrs RM’s birthday today. She’s a good ‘un, and to prove it she nipped in The Mariner before I had chance to say “But you said we were having a day off pubs, Mrs RM“.”

    Happy Birthday!
    (and definitely a good ‘un)

    “The Mariner impressed me when it debuted in the Guide before COVID, and although it’s dropped out since it still gets good beer scores”

    An apostrophe between ‘since’ and ‘it’ wouldn’t go amiss. Otherwise one could read that as it’s dropped SINCE it still gets good beer scores.
    (meaning the good beer is keeping it out!)

    “but I think we can agree that James’ reputation has been completely rehabilitated of late. No ?”

    I shall have to be blunt and say that I’m not familiar with him.

    “It’s changed hands recently, but Landlord Steve was a great host, and the beer range will still appeal to the 98% of non-CAMRA members who like to see a beer they recognise,”

    Don’t change what’s working; Steve know his stuff.

    “particularly one with a Christmas hat on. You know how festive I am.”

    (slow golf clap, after nearly choking on my beer)

    “but frankly I’d never share anything with her, ”

    (tentative slow golf clap?)

    “I know nothing about brewing, but I can guarantee you beer tastes better in a proper pint glass.”

    Are they trying something new, for whatever ungodly reason?

    “but the equally riotous members of Ashford, Folkestone and Romney Marsh CAMRA will be here this Saturday for their Proper Christmas Day Out,”

    Yup, seven pints should make for a good time.

    “unless CAMRA HQ see that banned word “crawl” first.”

    Heh. 😎

    Cheers

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      1. That was a test!
        (did you buy that?) 😉

        In my defense, my darling wife left by bus to Victoria this morning for four days. I was a wee bit distracted in my commenting.

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      3. Pub crawling isn’t huge over here (especially in the winter!). We don’t have the density in many places to do that; and bar crawling isn’t quite the same. But it does happen, though not like over in the UK.

        My ‘best’ pub/bar crawl was Oktoberfest in Munich in Oct 1980. Twelve of us started out (all from the same hostel). We hit beer hall after beer hall, having a litre stein of beer in each. After the third beer hall, we started losing people. After the fifth beer hall, it was me who stepped outside and couldn’t find the group. I had to get a nice policeman to get me a taxi back to the hostel. Luckily I knew the name of the hostel as we’d just arrived earlier that day!

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      4. I’m sure that happens a lot at Oktoberfest.

        I wonder if popping from bierhaus to bierhaus is a thing though.

        It’s harder nipping in bars when you have to grab a waiter’s attention to pay, for a start.

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      5. “I don’t know about swoon, Russ, but I have to admit that Harvey’s glass is in pretty good nick!”

        Good nick, eh Paul? Does that mean you’d nick it? 😎

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