The Stag, Maidstone

A traditional high street pub, originally The Sun, which has in the past been a dive bar called JP’s and a bar called Duke of Earl. It has been well described by others, below. There were 2 dry pumps on the bar ad a third dispensing Adnam’s Southwold, which was in average condition. The young staff were friendly enough, but the pub lacks atmosphere and isn’t a great place to spend an evening.

The Stag has been in the Good Beer Guide as recently as 2022 and I was looking forward to trying the Reliant Robin. However, the pub has just changed hands with the Rockin' Robin beer no longer available here. The set of handpulls remains, but with just the one clipped and turned around. We asked the barman if there were any real ales and he did offer us Doom Bar, which we politely declined. This guy turned out to be the new owner and he already owns several other pubs in the area. He eagerly told us about his plans to transform the pub, including the impending introduction of a new T-bar of keg beers, featuring such wonders as Pravha & Madri. We listened and nodded intently whilst supping our Coke and sambuca before departing for somewhere with a better ale selection. Unfortunately, this pub is no longer what it once was and is destined to become a run-of-the-mill town centre lager-drinking establishment.

This is one of those town centre pubs that has been through dozens of incarnations without ever really hitting on a winning formula. Having gone through countless name changes and owners, including a stint as a branch of the O’Neills chain, the pub is now owned by the Rockin’ robin Brewery, who also christened it with its current name. It comes across as a rather ramshackle place that might well be surviving on its prime location alone. You enter into a quarry stone floored main bar area with the servery running along the rear wall. The bar has a rather bland counter, painted in grey for added dullness, although the dark wood bar back is considerably more appealing. This rather nondescript interior design extends to the exposed floorboards and whitewashed walls, although there are some sections of full height wall panelling, which add a degree of character. To the right of the bar stands a huge inglenook fireplace full of unused furniture, with a few tables and chairs opposite, whilst to the left there is a marginally cosier space with similar seating around a small brick fireplace, with a nice retro lamp on the mantelpiece and a plain mirror above. I believe there is a rear room behind the bar somewhere, but I didn’t venture around this side of the pub. Pavement seating can be found in a roped off space on the pedestrianised High Street, whilst back indoors there was an 80’s pop soundtrack playing all those bygone hits you’d hoped never to hear again. The Rockin’ Robin Brewery don’t seem to be particularly prolific when it comes to brewing cask ale, or if they are, they don’t seem to send much of it to this pub, as only the one hand pump was in action, serving their Reliant Robin - a basic session bitter that didn’t have all that much going for it. The staff were pretty friendly though and there was a smattering of locals already propping up the bar when I wandered in on a Thursday afternoon. I thought this pub lacked any real character, perhaps as a result of undergoing so many changes of ownership in recent years. I came here for the Rockin’ Robin beers, which were pretty limited (although there may have been more on keg - I didn’t check), so was a bit disappointed overall. I wouldn’t want to put others off from giving this place a chance, but it didn’t really work for me.