We're very proud of our pubs in Kent but many of them have disappeared, been the subject of horrible renaming exercises or been "tarted up" for the tourist trade. Is it an improvement or not? In the majority of cases, I think not but perhaps you can be the judge as I add pages to this section of the site.

The demise of many of our "local pubs" has come about because of the drinking and driving laws that have been instituted in recent years - and I for one, won't complain about the reason for that.

However, is this the only reason, other than successive governments depriving us of our disposable income? As an example, in the later part of the 19th Century when Canterbury had a population fluctuating between eighteen and twenty thousand, there were thirteen breweries and over one hundred pubs. Today, there are no breweries and about thirty pubs left. Certainly, in many villages and towns the pub was one of the focal points of the community. Many genealogists number at least one Licenced Victualler among their ancestors. I'll try and find reasons for the decline of "the local" in the following pages but also try to introduce you to the "local" Kent pub:

CANTERBURY PUBS:

Black Horse, The
Brewers Delight
Carpenters' Arms
Eight Bells
Falstaff Tap
Mitre, The
Old City
Royal Dragoon
Three Tuns (Queen's Head)

OTHER AREAS:

Ash (next Sandwich)- Crooked Billet
Ashford - Man of Kent
Biddenden - Castleton's Oak
Chilham - The White Horse
Denton - The Jackdaw
Elham - King's Arms
Hersden - Shrew Beshrewed
High Halden - The Chequers
Kingston (Kent) - The Black Robin
Kipping's Cross, Pembury - The Blue Boys
Sissinghurst - The Bull Inn
Wateringbury - Duke Without a Head
West Hythe - Botolph's Bridge
Woodnesborough - The Prince of Wales