The Standard Inn, Rye

Traditional-looking High Street pub, although the interior has been much altered over time. Partly opened out, but there is sold old timber work separating the bar area that you enter from the slightly larger seating area off to the left. Also has another room at the back and an old-fashioned yard and gents toilet to the rear. Romney Marsh Best Bitter, Pig & Porter's Skylarking session IPA and a rather disappointing Pale No 3 'Mosaic and Idaho 7 edition' from Three Legs (£4.80).

A traditional looking pub at the quieter end of one of Rye’s many attractive old streets, despite not appearing to have much in the way of passing trade it was pretty much full to capacity on our recent Sunday evening visit, so if that’s what it’s like in February I can only imagine it must get pretty rammed at more popular times. Internally the pub is divided in to two, the with the main bar area at the front, and a smaller room to the rear that looked to be more geared up for dining, although I imagine at one time the front bar was actually two separate rooms as there are still the partial remains of a wall in evidence. The front bar was very attractive and traditional, with quarry style tiling on the floor, plenty of old oak beams on the ceiling and plenty of exposed brickwork. The woodwork, other than the old beams and supporting posts which were thankfully unpainted, was a shade of khaki green, and there were a few odds and ends affixed to the walls such as a stag’s head, brassware and so on, although this was fairly limited. A couple of old fireplaces were off to one side, although it’s a bit of a shame that they weren’t in use on a cold winter’s evening. The rear room had a little less character, but still pleasant enough, with a wood strip floor, some limited pine cladding on the walls and sheepskin rugs on all the benches, as well as another old fireplace that was obscured by the bench seating and clearly not used either. A few old bits of wood had been carved in to whale shapes and there was a small stained-glass panel in the ceiling. The menu offered a decent enough selection of pub grub dishes, with options including Pie of the day, cheeseburger, rump of lamb, and so on, with most of the main courses being somewhere around the £16 - £20 mark. My classic fish pie was very tasty, but very small I thought, being served in a ramekin type dish. The accompanying buttered green veg was at least twice the size. Beers on tap were ESB and pale Ale from Long Man, along with Romney Best. The solitary cider meanwhile was Curious Apple. Overall I quite liked it in here, it’s certainly a pleasant pub, the landlord was a jovial chap and there was a good crowd in. Only the portion sizes for the food let it down, so I probably wouldn’t bother returning here to eat.

Situated right in the heart of the citadel, The Standard Inn is another one of Rye’s historic 15th century pubs that still functions as an Inn. Downstairs it’s a quaint food led pub and upstairs there are five rooms for B&B. According to its own website, a couple of years ago, years of plaster board and bitumen were pulled away to reveal the wooden and brick framework of the 15th Century  pub and today its all beautifully carved exposed beams and features made of the impressive open fires and brickwork. The front bar you enter into was clearly originally 2 small rooms as they have kept and made a feature out of the original door and framework which is still remaining bang in the middle of the front bar and acts as a bit of a divider. Then beyond the bar room is a back room set to tables which is mainly used for dining. There is no real outdoor space to talk of except for a long thin courtyard which runs in parallel along the additional back room. They have made the most of this space by installing individual black huts, each with heaters, along both sides. This is a food led pub and most people come here to eat as its reputation is high in this respect. That included us on this evening and I can confirm that the reputation is justified on what we had. Fortunately however, the bar has a decent drinks range including four real ale pumps and three local brews were on for our visit. These were Pig and Porter Skylarking Session IPA, Three Legs Brewing Pale Ale and Romney Marsh Brewery Best Bitter. We went for the first two of these and they were both in fine condition. This is not a lads vertical drinking pub, but for a pub to sit and drink and eat with friends and family it scores very highly.

Getting into the Standard is a bit like getting into Fort Knox right now. We had tried to visit on the bank holiday weekend, but were turned away. Having said that, the pub is making the most of the very limited outdoor space it has available, given the current Covid restrictions (no indoor drinking or eating). The only outdoor space is a narrow yard at the rear. The pub have created 6 covered booths, which have to be booked in advance. Whilst we'd attempted to book one of the booths over the bank holiday weekend, we had been advised that we were fully booked. We did originally try on spec on the Sunday evening and they did have a table available at 9pm. But this was a little too late for our liking. As such, despite initially being told they were also fully booked on a Thursday lunchtime, I managed to persuade them to let me pop in for a swift half. Unfortunately, the assumption is that each group will occupy each booth for a couple of hours. I managed to get in at midday before most lunchtime bookings had arrived. Indeed, there was only one other booth occupied by a couple when it was time for me to move on. Just 2 ales were on - Romney Marsh Romney Best Bitter & Three Legs Oatmeal Bullion. I had the latter, which was in a good condition. The interior looks fairly plan, with lots of dark wood. Although, some of the furniture may currently have been removed.