Visit the Paul Bailey's Beer Blog site

Easter Monday, and after a weekend of digging, digging andmore digging I felt the urge to escape, so I that’s what I did. The previousevening I’d been looking at pubs on CAMRA’s National Heritage list, in order totick one off, and whilst one of them, the Earl of Clarendon at Sandgate hadbeen on my radar for some time, the fact that there was a couple of two-star ratedpubs in the same seaside town, clinched it for me.
Sandgate, which lies between the towns of Hythe andFolkestone, is classed as a village, although in my mind it’s more of a smalltown. I have memories of this settlement from childhood, as it lies on theroute my father always took when taking the family on a drive to nearbyFolkestone. Both my parents were very fond of the place, and it wasn’t unusualfor us to spend an afternoon in the town. So, shopping for mum, at the stylish,but long-closed, Bobby’s department store. Dad’s role was primarily that ofchauffeur, whilst for my sister and I it was a trip out, plus the chance topick up a comic, a toy, or both in one of the local shops, and perhaps even an ice cream
As mentioned above, it had been in my mind for some time tomake a return visit to the Earl of Clarendon, as the last time I set foot inthe pub must have been back in the early 1980’s, but how to get to Sandgate bypublic transport, was the issue. I checked on Google to see which, if any busesran to the village from either of Folkestone’s rail stations, only to discoverit was just over 1.5 miles on foot from Folkestone West. I also noticedon the way, that the route passed the Ship Inn, Sandgate’s other pub with aninterior of national, historic interest. It would therefore be possible tovisit both National Inventory pubs in an afternoon.
I arrived at Tonbridge station in sufficient time, not justto buy my ticket, but also to purchase that all important train coffee. Bygeneral consensus amongst my friends and I, FCB Coffee, with its opening intothe station booking hall, serves by far the best coffee in town. The companyalso has outlets at eight other stations, primarily in London and the SouthEast, so keep an eye out for these when travelling by train.
The train wasn’t crowded, and I had a pleasant anduneventful journey down to Folkestone. I don’t think I have ever used thetown’s west station before, as the central station is far more convenient forthe town centre, and the Leas Cliff Hall. The latter was the venue for manyvisiting rock groups during my teenage years, including Fleetwood Mac, UriahHeep, Caravan, Groundhogs and many other early 1970’s acts that appealed tosixth form school boys. We passed through a heavy shower on the journey alongfrom Ashford, but the rain had stopped by the time the train reachedFolkestone.
I was relying on Google maps to navigate my way down to theSandgate seafront, although I had taken the precaution of writing down thenames of the roads. I don’t like trying to follow Google on my phone, as thedisplay likes to re-orientate itself, whereas I prefer to have the screenoriented in the direction of travel. Despite this initial confusion, I soonreached the main A259 Folkestone road. Looking later, at the map, I discoveredthere is a private road that cuts through parkland surrounding the headquartersof the SAGA Group. This is the organisation that looks after the interests ofthe over-50’s, and the group is still one of the largest employers in the area,as well as a major benefactor.
It wasn’t much further to the Earlof Clarendon,but would the pub be open? The Clarendon’s website was down the night before,but whilst checking my phone on the train journey down from Tonbridge, Inoticed to my horror that the pub doesn’t open until 4pm on Mondays. There wasno mention of this on What Pub so, not wanting to turn back I plodded steadilyon, keeping my fingers crossed that on Bank Holiday Monday, the pub would openat Midday. Fortunately, it did, although I only found this out after factchecking with a couple, I met just a few blocks away from the pub.
My last visit to the Earl of Clarendon had back in the early1980’s, when it was a Shepherd Neame tied house. Shep’s used to run a “PassportScheme” back in then, as a means of encouraging drinkers to visit as many oftheir pubs as possible. With a different, and unique stamp for every pub, theidea was to buy a pint, and then get your cardboard, passport-style bookletstamped. Prizes ranging from “T” shirts, ties, sweat shirts and even an ornatepottery tankard were awarded, depending on the number of stamps in ones’passport, and hence the number of Shepherd Neame pubs visited.
I still remember visiting the Clarendon with the previousMrs Bailey, after cycling to Sandgate from my parent’s bungalow, which was inthe small village of Brook, a few miles outside Ashford. We had been stayingthere, house-sitting whilst my parents were on holiday, enjoying one of theirnumerous caravan trips. Walking up the steep, and narrow cobbled street leadingto the pub, was a reminder of that visit, and having to push our bikes up whatseemed like the side of a mountain, eagerly awaiting a cooling and refreshingpint of Master Brew – back in the day when Shep’s were still producing decentbeer.
The Earl of Clarendon was originally built as a hotel andprovided refreshment to troops stationed in the area at the nearby ShorncliffeCamp, as it is on a path between the barracks and the sea. It belonged toseveral different breweries over time, starting out with local brewers Mackesonof Hythe, Whitbread and then Shepherd Neame, before becoming today’s free house. The pub was empty when I arrived, although both front doorswere open. The landlord was sitting at one of the side tables reading thepaper, when I bowled in. I noticed there were two cask ales on the bank ofunusual-looking, hand pulls, one from the local Romney Marsh Brewery and theother from Parkway Brewing Co. I remember trying one of their beers at thewell-known Bell in Bath, but this time I decided to stick with the local beerand go for a pint of the 4.5% Marsh IPA.
The beer was excellent, and mine host told me it was a newishbrew from Romney Marsh. I told him that we rarely see beers from that thatbrewery in West Kent, and this led us on to discussing other beers. He saidthat he particularly misses Old Dairy (so do I), and he blamed their demise onBrexit, and the amount of red tape now necessary to export goods to the EuropeanUnion. I replied that leaving the EU was supposed to reduce unnecessary formfilling, where in fact we all know the opposite was true.
A whole discussion then ensued, mainly revolving around himhaving to sell his property in France – the one him and his wife had spent thepast 20 years restoring. I shan’t say anymore, otherwise certain people willwade in and say, “There he goes again, banging on about Brexit!” Regrettably,the hard facts speak for themselves, as my company, and our many customers withinthe EU, know only too well, much more of course than the Daily Mail, apublication the landlord was particularly scathing about.
I asked the licensee if I could have a wander about and takea few photos, so following a nod of approval, you can see for yourselves the plain,but rather attractive interior of the pub. Shortly afterwards, a couple andtheir grown-up son came in, although it was disappointing to see that therewasn’t a cask drinker amongst them. Guinness and Peroni seemed the drinks ofchoice, so wanting to do my bit for cask, I ordered another pint of Marsh IPA.
Whilst enjoying it, I was working out in my mind, the timeto the next pub (10 minutes), plus the timings of trains back to Tonbridge, andhaving done so, I drank up, thanked the landlord for his time and wished himwell with his property sale. I then headed down to the seafront and walked alongthe promenade to the Famous Ship Inn. According to What Pub, this narrow cornerpub extends from the High Street to the beach, with the middle part forming theoriginal alehouse dating from 1798. The restaurant with sea views and upstairsdeck for drinkers were added in 2010. If I’m honest, I found the place ratherunderwhelming and failed to see why the Ship had secured its listing on theNational Inventory.
Apparently, the historic interior interest here is the frontbar, which is claimed to have been refitted in 1948. This would have been unusualin the immediate aftermath of the second world war, when there was a severeshortage of building materials. The walls have full-height panelling, togetherwith a panelled ceiling, a horizontally boarded counter, fixed seating, agently curved concave fire surround and an array of seats and tables made outof old casks. I can remember lots of pubs receiving similar treatment, later thanthe late 40’s, I grant you, but still nothing special in my book.
The front bar was rather crowded, so I didn’t manage any photos,and instead, headed for the large room to the left of the narrow corridor,where the walls were also panelled, although this time painted green. On theway through, I’d picked up a half of Dark Star, Hophead which was in fine form.The pub itself seemed pleasant enough and seemed popular with family groups, butI was thinking it a shame that the Providence Inne, just across the way, lookedmore interesting. “A pub, the way we think a pub should be,” according to thewebsite – well, don’t you think it should be open, then?
It was time to go, so I navigated my way back to FolkestoneWest. Needless to say, the toilets were locked – don’t they think that peoplemight want to use them on a bank holiday afternoon? I had a 10-minute wait formy train, although there was a Javelin HST due imminently. For the uninitiated,the Javelins operate as normal South Eastern trains until they reach Ashford. Theythen switch onto the high-speed rail line HS1, towards the capital, stoppingonly at Ebbsfleet and Stratford (both stations with the suffix “International”,even though no Eurostar services have stopped there, since the before thepandemic!)The toilet was of greater concern to me, but fortunately itwas open, there was no queue, and it was relatively clean. I arrived at Ashford,in time to change platforms, and grab an expensive cup of coffee (Starbucks),before my train back to Tonbridge pulled in. So one excellent pub, which brought back a fewmemories, plus one not so memorable. However, speaking of memories, my walk alongthe seafront, at Sandgate, certainly brought back a few happy ones, fromchildhood.

Follow Blog via EmailClick to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.


More...