The New Inn, Canterbury

Cosy backstreet pub with a reputation for well-kept ale, situated on a quiet road just outside the city walls. You enter to a small front bar with scuffed floorboards, orange and cream painted walls and two fireplaces along the left-hand wall. The servery is along the right side of the room and has an angular dark wood counter with a smart canopy and rather unimaginative two-part bar back. Hard bench seating runs around the perimeter, boasting some spectacularly thin and threadbare upholstery, with plenty of basic chairs in support and a row of high stools along the bar. Décor is the usual traditional odds and ends, including plenty of old photos, a big collection of horse brasses above the brick fireplace and plenty of CAMRA certificates attesting to the pub’s ale credentials. Beyond the bar, you move through into a rear space with a bit of a conservatory feel. High tables and stools fill much of the space back here, separated by nice modern etched glass screens in plain wooden surrounds. From here, you can move out to a well-appointed beer garden that looks like it might be a bit of a sun trap. There were five handpulls in operation when I arrived, dispensing Kent The Quiet American and Sunset, St Austell tribute, Musket Powder Burn and Nightjar Chosen. The latter was a very reasonable £3.60 for a pint and in good condition, served to me by a friendly enough landlord. I’d popped in at lunchtime on a Bank Holiday Monday and was a little surprised to find I was the only customer for the duration of my stay. I liked this place and thought it was a proper drinker’s pub with a well-kept selection of ales, comfortable seating options and no-nonsense service. I clearly didn’t time my visit too well, as the place was a bit dead, but I get the impression it would be an enjoyable boozer if there was a bit of a crowd and I’d say it’s worth making the short walk out to. Date of visit – 1st May 2023

I passed this likely looking back street local before opening time, and by coincidence had it recommended to me by the first person I talked to (we were waiting outside the Butchers Arms for it to open, but that's another story), so decided to call in for a last beer later that day. It's a fairly narrow room with bare boards, bench seating around the walls and stools at the bar. A group of locals were gathered around the landlady at the bar, partly obscuring the seven real ales on the hand pumps at the part of the bar where they were sat. I went for the Musket Flintlock 4.2% (brewed in Maidstone) and settled down away from the bar. The other beers were from Brockley, Blackjack, Red Willow, Otter, Gadds and Padstow. As Ian says below, the landlady really knows her job - her husband pours the drinks and she entertains the customers. She has a knack of keeping the conversation flowing and even brought me into a discussion about vegan food, having no idea that I was a vegetarian: it was just the way she draws her customers together. I left promising to return if I'm ever in Canterbury again.