The Chequers on The Green, Ashford

Very attractive pub / restaurant unsurprising overlooking the village green. It retains a multi-room interior with traditional furniture and decor, mostly set aside for dining, but there is a little general seating in the centre near the counter. However, in good weather, the tables in the front patio beer garden (some of which are covered by large square umbrellas) are the place to be. Although unbranded, this is still a Shepherd Neame house, albeit with only the brewery's Whitstable Bay Pale on offer in addition to the others regular cask beers: Harvey's and Old Dairy Red Top (£3.80).

Official site of The Chequers on The Green - www.chequersonthegreen.com

Official site of The Chequers on The Green - www.chequersonthegreen.com

This pub has recently reopened as part of a small local pub chain-Village Green Inns, having languished for the past few years under its old name of the Chequers Inn. A large, attractive tile hung farmhouse type of pub,the Chequers is now largely food led, but with a smallish bar area at the heart of things. Entering from the car park to the side of the pub (an attractive looking garden to the rear), one finds oneself in a seeming warren of snugs and booths, opening out into a larger room:exposed woodwork,low ceilings , mainly laid up for dining. Past the bar, in the old public bar,where I once spent Christmas lunchtime with a friend’s eccentric mother in law, is a dining room. On our visit, on a wet May Tuesday evening, the pub was fairly busy with a large and convivial group of diners and a few at the bar,with a steady stream darting out to use the rather intrusive smoking and seating area out front. Service was friendly and reasonably efficient, though my pint of Harvey’s Sussex Best Bitter needed chivvying up.I wasn’t overly impressed with Old Dairy’s Red Top, usually very reliable. The pub seems to be a local outlet for 1648 brewery from East Sussex, though I didn’t try the beer on offer, it being a honey ale. Additionally, the usual cold and fizzy horrors were available.