The Three Tuns, Canterbury

Official site of The Three Tuns Hotel - www.johnbarras.com

Official site of The Three Tuns Hotel - www.johnbarras.com

A 15th Century city inn which has withstood the ravages of the 20th Century to remain a decent local pub. The interior is as described by PSM below. It's currently a John Barras pub, so the food is dire and comes in pre-packaged microwave-blobs, but the beer is a cut above the normal for this chain. The main L-shaped bar is carpeted and has large picture windows on both sides which makes it a good place to sit and watch the World go by. There is easy-listening on the stereo, a gaming machine and tv screens (which were switched off). It's family-friendly, but I found the staff a little too distant. Three ales on – I had a pint of Nelson's Friggin in the Riggin, which was at the end of its shelflife, served too cold but still enjoyable; a day later and it wouldn't have been. Worth coming back for a relaxing pint, but eat elsewhere.

This large, rambling multi-roomed pub a short walk from the High Street proclaims to date back to the 15th Century. We entered into the compact public bar on the right hand side of the building, which forms a narrow space around the servery, with a low ceiling, worn and rather dirty fixtures and fittings, limited seating options and a very annoying disco set up at the back of the room. I initially thought this was the full extent of the pub, but a peek through a door at the back revealed several more rooms, one set aside purely for pool (or was it snooker - I only managed a quick glimpse), and another dominated by a huge central fireplace, with a second, smaller bar opposite. The seating options this side were in keeping with a lounge bar and things were a lot more serene round this side of the pub, where the disco tunes were barely audible. The pub appears popular with students, but the clientele spanned the generations, making for a fairly lively atmosphere. I noticed three ales on the bar - Courage Directors, Adnams Southwold Bitter and one other mainstream offering that I forgot to make a note of. Unfortunately I didn't get to try any of them, as the stag do group I was with had decided to switch to spirits by the time we got here. I thought this place could do with a good, thorough tidy up, as I wasn't really convinced that this was somewhere I'd want to spend much time. We clearly visited at the wrong time of day to properly appreciate it, but I think there are lots of much better pubs nearby and I doubt I'd make a return to this one.