November 2025. Tonbridge. Having spent the extravagant sum of £3.20 to park next to Tonbridge Castle (it was 6.43pm, they charge 8am till 8pm but kindly gave me a credit of those 43 minutes in the morning) we were going to get full value for our night out. Supper in Spoons, which seems to be… Continue reading LEFFE AND SPICE BAG
Tag: Tonbridge
MAN OF KENT. OR KENTISH MAN ?
November 2025. Tonbridge. There’s five (5) Tonbridge entries in the Good Beer Guide this year. Southwold has none (0), Stafford only has three. One of those is the very beery Nelson Arms, one’s a Spoons, one is the upmarket craft/cask/toastie gem that is Fuggles. Mrs RM, after a challenging day, wanted that stodge-fest of a… Continue reading MAN OF KENT. OR KENTISH MAN ?
GATECRASHING A 60th BIRTHDAY IN TONBRIDGE
November 2025. Tonbridge. A day attending to the in-laws of Royal Tunbridge Wells, where it transpires all Michael wants is a front row seat at the Assembly Hall, listening to a sombre piece about Anne Frank performed by his own choral society. It’s less fun than Rosie, I’ll say that. While the in-laws stay at… Continue reading GATECRASHING A 60th BIRTHDAY IN TONBRIDGE
HARVEY’S DRINKING WELL AT THE IVY HOUSE
April 2025. Tonbridge. Another weekend down in Kent with the in-laws. They’re better company now than they were in 1992 when they almost didn’t show up at our wedding (Catholic stuff, don’t ask). Arriving at 9pm we parked the campervan up by the castle, near the shop with Dylan vinyl (£15 !), and hit the… Continue reading HARVEY’S DRINKING WELL AT THE IVY HOUSE
YOU SHOULD ALWAYS GO FOR THE BEER WITH THE FLASHING PUMP CLIP
Christmas Eve 2023. Tonbridge. Finally, at 20:24, (almost) appropriately, we headed back to our Premier Inn ahead of the ordeals of a family Christmas. Blimey, don’t some folk make an effort ! It looks like Mrs RM almost wandered into the Somerhill by mistake. I remember that fondly from the short-lived Hooden Horse chain that… Continue reading YOU SHOULD ALWAYS GO FOR THE BEER WITH THE FLASHING PUMP CLIP
THE PUNCH AND JUDY
Christmas Eve 2023. Tonbridge. An impromptu Christmas Eve crawl with the lads reached its crescendo (?) as we headed back to the Tonbridge Premier Inn for an early night ahead of “Ordeal by Turkey”. So on leaving the Station we resisted the undoubted charms of the Constitutional Club (Abbot, I think). But, on turning the… Continue reading THE PUNCH AND JUDY
TONBRIDGE’S BRO-COUNTRY PUB
Christmas Eve 2023. Tonbridge. You learn something new every day. On Christmas Eve I learnt my two sons were quite capable of choosing a third Tonbridge pub of the night without my steer, though the only possible reason for picking the Station House would have been that it was there. Unmistakably a Craft Union place,… Continue reading TONBRIDGE’S BRO-COUNTRY PUB
TOP 100 PUBS – THE NELSON ARMS, TONBRIDGE
Christmas Eve 2023. Tonbridge. The great Taylor Family Christmas Eve pub crawl headed aimlessly south from Fuggles, their tummies full of toastie and “hot dog”, without a clue what to now we weren’t hanging about for a family curry. Harvey’s in a Tudor hotel ? Looking after suspicious packages outside the fun pub ? Nope.… Continue reading TOP 100 PUBS – THE NELSON ARMS, TONBRIDGE
It was Christmas Eve, babe, in the drunk tank
Christmas Eve 2023. Tonbridge. Our days of being abroad at Christmas are probably on the back burner for now, and it seemed more important than ever to be with both sets of parents this year after extended hospitalisations. The 24th in Waterbeach and Tonbridge, the 25th in Tonbridge and Waterbeach. At least the A1 was… Continue reading It was Christmas Eve, babe, in the drunk tank
“Hey mate, watch my bag for a minute while I go and get a scratchcard”. Drug drama at Tonbridge Castle.
There are three things likely to improve your blog views. 1) Blogging from an unheralded town and slagging off its classier neighbour, 2) Queueing (especially in Spoons), 3) Tipping your beer in a plant pot. Let’s see if a reference to drugs can be added to our list. We needed to catch a bus back… Continue reading “Hey mate, watch my bag for a minute while I go and get a scratchcard”. Drug drama at Tonbridge Castle.
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