October 2026. Lydd-on-Sea. Kent.
Only five new Kent entries to tick in the Beer Guide, but excitingly one of them is out near eerie Dungeness, and so famous it’s got it’s own marker on the OS map.
I reckon we’d been in the Pilot twenty years ago before a family ride on the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch light Railway, a ride memorable only for sub-arctic conditions. In May.
Wednesday saw the return to the south coast of drizzle, but that doesn’t deter the gentlefolk here for fish and chips as famous as those at Whitby’s Magpie or any Spoons between 2-5.
Yes, it’s an unashamedly themed diner, but it’s also bright and cheery,
and the house beer from Romney Marsh is a chewy, bitter, 3.5.
Everyone, including the staff, is older than us, so we get an overload of Phil Collins and Tears for Fears.
They’re taking good money, with fish and chips twenty quid and all desserts £8.95,
and good luck to them. It’s a jolly place.
It’s too breezy to take in the beach, but the photos outside the Gents give you the idea.
Outside, the beer garden is a mix of wrought iron,
and multi-coloured elephants.
That’s the most modern elephant slide I’ve seen in decades.
