Ypres Castle, Rye

The place didn't seem anywhere near as busy as you'd expect it to be on bonfire parade night. Which probably speaks volumes. I'll put the place back to 6/10 (until I'm personally insulted by the landlord)

My first impressions of this place were all good as the pub is in a great setting on a hillside at the foot of a castle with some nice views from the outside seating in the decked area and the large beer garden. The barmaid was extremely friendly and chatty and the Pride and Landlord were very good. Harvey's Best and ESB were also available alongside Fosters, Kronenburg, Becks, Guinness and Bushells Kentish Cider. The only small gripes that I could have had were that the radio was playing instead of some background music and there was a really drunk girl in the pub, but she seemed to be friends with the barmaid and the lad with her was very apologetic and I've seen far worse. Unfortunately at 18:00 it was all change at the Ypres as the barmaid and her friends left and the governor came in with an older barmaid. The governor's first task of the day was to ask the wife and me if we were eating as we were sitting at the back of the pub which was classed as the dining area. We were going to eat so he said we wouldn't have to move to the front of the pub, which we thought a little strange as we were the only people in the entire building. I could continue rambling on about the food so to cut a long story short both of our dishes were ok, but we felt extremely rushed to order and finish up. There is a room with a plasma screen and some tables and chairs behind the bar and there is also a dartboard in the main bar, but I'm not sure that it is playable due to the bench along the side of the wall encroaching onto the oche. The barmaid also informed me that there is live music every Friday night from 21:00, but we left well before this so I cannot comment. There is a lunch service from 12:00 until 15:00 which includes a reduced rate children's menu. The dinner service starts at 18:00 and finishes at 22:00 every night except Fridays when it is 21:00 due to the live music I mentioned earlier. Very young children are not permitted to dine during the dinner service. I felt that the governor was quite unwelcoming and ruined the relaxed atmosphere which was a real shame as we didn't go back to this lovely pub during our stay in Rye.

Official site of the Ypres Castle Inn - www.yprescastleinn.co.uk

Official site of the Ypres Castle Inn - www.yprescastleinn.co.uk