The George & Dragon, Swanscombe

Sited on a corner between the main Dartford to Gravesend road and the street into the village of Swanscombe, this pub proudly boasts of the many awards it has won since the current landlords took it over a few years back and, over time, have brought it back up from the rather deep depths it had sunk to. Very traditional in style, it boasts anything up to eight real ales on tap at a time with, often, up to three real ciders too. Bombardier appears to be the only constant and the rest change with regularity which certainly makes for interesting and educational visits. Below the pub, they have their own micro-brewery which produces various beers marketed under the Caveman Brewery label. A wide selection of unusual bottled beers and ciders are on offer along with a growing choice of rarely seen whiskies. Excellent quality food in available Wednesday to Sunday (though, maybe, a little higher in price than some competitors) and there are a few letting bedrooms above the pub. Beer garden is small, tucked round to the rear and, while basic, is slowly being improved.

This former coaching inn's cellar is the home of the Caveman Brewery, a relatively new one that has been highly recommended. The pub itself consists of a rounded bar in the centre of the main room with a small dining room to the rear left. Most of the pub is carpeted and generally has a worn-in look to it although it's comfy enough. On the left side of the bar are six handpumps, sadly only including one Caveman beer on my visit. There was also another bank of three pumps apparently not in use. The beers available were Titanic Mild, Truman's Ditto IPA, Caveman Citra, Old Dairy Gold Top, Blackjack Boulillotte and Bombardier. I tried the Citra (£3.40) which was a bit warm and cloudy then the Gold Top (£3.40) which was warm and cloudy as was the Truman's Ditto IPA (£3.60). This pub is not only GBG (2014) listed but has been the CAMRA branch pub of the year for the last two years and the West Kent pub of the year last year. Hot thundery weather doesn't do beer any good at all but something has gone seriously wrong here.