The Muggleton Inn (Lloyds No 1), Maidstone

Set in a grand old insurance company’s head office and much more upmarket than the other Maidstone Spoons (re-opened in December 2023 after a big refurb) and is very tidy overall – the four decorated arched openings between rooms looked very snazzy, as sis the pub’s name picked-out above the bar. Upstairs hosts another sizeable seating area with a bar and is much quieter and more relaxed with a faint Georgian drawing room feel, wish I’d known about it well-before my departure toilet trip! The non-GBG Spoons in town but my pint of Three Acre IPA was in good enough nick (NBSS 3). Shoddy kitchen let the side down, my salad came with no bowl of dressing, tut. This is certainly the more impressive of the town’s two Spoons and you should head here if you only have time to sample one of them. 7.5

A vast Spoons in an rather splendid old building, as described below. Sadly the service in the downstairs bar was poor, so we ventured upstairs only to discover there was only the trio of doom there, so back down and queue for the two guest ales (Jaipur and Acorn Golden Brewer). Visiting both floors revealed that the packed clientele were almost entirely twerlies and mostly eating, so the various empty pubs visited elsewhere in the town really need to open their eyes and get their act together. The place itself just needs an improvement in service and some better ales.