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Friday 1stDecember, saw me in Tunbridge Wells, ahead of a Christmas Party invitation.It’s that time of year, and whilst many will think it far too early to bethinking of the festering season, my firm thought otherwise – or at least somefemale members of staff did. That might sound slightly sexist, but in my 40years + experience of such events, it is invariably the ladies who like to planand organise these get-togethers. There was one memorable year though, whenmyself and the works engineer, sorted out the party arrangements, but that wasonly because it allowed us to visit potential venues to check out what was onoffer. In pre-internet days, this was often the only way of organising theChristmas Party.
I digress, but thisyear’s bash broke with protocol by plumping for an evening event, at adifferent location. Covid aside, for the majority of my 17 years with thecompany, our Christmas party/meal has taken place at the Little Brown Jug, alarge, but cosy and comfortable pub just 10 minutes’ walk along the road, fromour factory in Chiddingstone Causeway. The “Jug” is also directly oppositePenshurst railway station – an important consideration for those indulging in aglass or three of something inebriating, with their festive meal.
We have triedvarious combinations of afternoon or evening events, the latter having theadvantage of extending the invitation to the spouses or partners of staffmembers. However, as the company has grown in size, we have reverted to amid-afternoon event reserved solely for employees. The Little Brown Jug hasinvariably laid on a sumptuous, and almost gut-busting, three-course meal for us, and to my mind therewas little need to change. Other voices prevailed though, which meant thesearch was on for an alternative venue. To cut a long story short, we opted fora pub-cum-restaurant in Tunbridge Wells, and for an evening function, and thatis why I found myself in Tunbridge Wells, last Friday.
With a 5pm meet-up atthe restaurant, I potentially had several hours to enjoy, but after decidingthat with an open bar tab at the party venue, I would need to pace myself asfar as drink was concerned, I left it until just before 3 pm before taking thetrain over to the Wells. On arriving in the town, I made my way up from thestation towards the main shopping area, primarily because I wanted to stop offat the bank. From there it was just a short hop to AllkinTap & Bottle, at the far end of Calverley Road. This recently openedestablishment is a welcome addition to the local beer scene in Tunbridge Wells,and the people behind the place are Allkin Brewery, who are based inEridge, which is just a few miles across the border into Sussex.
Allkin Brewing started life as “Good Things Brewing” back in 2018.The brewery was housed in an attractive 17th Century barn, next doorto the family home, and by generatingtheir own electricity, drawing up their own bore hole water, re-using wasteproducts from the brewing process and delivering beer in their own electric van,established itself as the mostsustainable brewery in the UK. Things were working out fine, and the evenmanaged to survive lock-down, until on Sunday 25th July 2021, thebrewery was tragically struck by lightning and burnt to the ground.
A period of crowdfundingthen followed and has resurfaced as Allkin Brewing Company. I’m not sure if thenew brewery is up and running yet, or whether some of the beers are currentlycontract-brewed, although looking at the website, I suspect the latter situationapplies. Looking for a place to showcase their beers, the company acquired aformer shop unit at the far end of Calverley Road, Tunbridge Wells, which they openedas theAllkin Tap & Bottle six months or so ago. Initially, opening was restrictedto Thursday to Sunday, but recently was extended to seven days a week.I knew the localCAMRA branch had been keeping an eye on the place, and I had seen some goodreports about it on one of the WhatsApp groups. It was no surprise then to finda couple of West Kent CAMRA members sitting there, at a table next to thewindow, when I walked in on Friday. They were probably surprised to see me, asI don’t get over that much to Tunbridge Wells, but after exchanging a fewpleasantries, I ordered myself a beer, and joined then at their table. I’dtaken the trouble earlier, to select a couple of beers from the Tap’s website, andstarted off with Flip the Bird, a 4.5% pale ale from Allkin. It was a keg beer,in common with most of the other beers at the tap. A total of 15 keglines serves up a mix of beers and ciders from approved brewers, basedthroughout the UK, but a single cask beer is dispensed by hand pump. The choiceof beer changes weekly, to ensure the freshest beer is always available.
I switched to cask for the second beer, and this was Plateaufrom Burning Sky Brewery, who are based close to the village of Firle, in theshadow of the South Downs. Apart from me plus my two CAMRA companions, there wasonly a handful of people in the Tap, but as the afternoon drew on, the place startedfilling up. The pub interior is long and slim with bench and stool seating,looking towards the bar counter and serving area to the right of the building.It seemed quite canine friendly, with canines of varying breeds anddescriptions, present, along with their human owners/handlers.
Food, at the moment, seems limited to cold meats, pate, and cheeses,in the same vein really as nearby Fuggles. My companions were enjoying some sortof spread on artisan bread, but I had a meal waiting for me, just down the road.With this in mind, I polished off my final beer, a half of London Black Porterfrom Ansbach & Hobday, said goodbye to my companions, and set off back downthe hill, towards the station.The venue hosting our Christmas celebration was the Barn, a rebuildof an old barn using some of the original beams and bricks, which lies just offMount Pleasant in the middle of town and a short walk from the station. There’snot a huge amount to report, on the venue, or the meal, so I shall save that particular pleasure foranother day.

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