The George, Tunbridge Wells

A large multi-roomed pub situated at the top of a steep hill, popular and very busy on a Friday afternoon. Eight handpumps in all, three from Fonthill plus Long Man Best Bitter, Gun Zamzama and Only With Love Yacht Rock and a couple of Ciders from Turners and Duddas Tun. Not my favourite pub in town but worth a visit.

Official site of The George - thegeorgepubtunbridgewells.co.uk

Official site of The George - thegeorgepubtunbridgewells.co.uk

A little way from the centre of Tunbridge Wells, but easy enough to reach on foot, this is a fairly large pub that has managed to retain something of its multiple room layout, thanks to the retention of various partitioning walls throughout the building. The entrance offers you a choice of a left or right turn into separate rooms, with the left hand option leading you into the main bar. This is a nice bare boarded space with a drinking ledge along the front wall, a pleasant fireplace to the left and three tables and chairs set a little further back into the room. The servery runs along the rear and has a basic tongue and groove counter and an interesting recessed bar back with a large clock to one side. A separate seating area can be accessed through a doorway to the left where banquette and chair seating has been arranged around another nice fireplace with a plain mirror above and some old teapots on the mantle. The walls have been decorated with an arty leaf print and various technical drawings. Meanwhile, the right hand side of the pub is a bare boarded lounge with a good mix of regular and comfy seating, neutral coloured walls and more of the same decor. Sofas in the bay window to the rear of the room looked to be a good spot to grab and a third fireplace can be found over on the right hand wall. Indie music played softly in the background throughout my stay. I was welcomed by a very smiley, friendly barmaid and made a choice from the long row of handpulls which included Fonthill Palimpsest Golden, Long Man Best Bitter and Table Beer, Tonbridge Old Chestnut, Burning Sky Plateau and Titanic Plum Porter, as well as two real ciders. The keg selection is also pretty good, with beers from the likes of Tiny Rebel, Camden and Beavertown available alongside some more mainstream brands. I ended up with a pint of the Long Man Best Bitter which set me back £4.00 and was in very good condition, as befitting the recognition the pub has received from the local CAMRA branch in recent years. This is a pretty decent pub with several comfortable spaces in which to relax over some of their very well kept beer. I found the welcome to be nice and friendly and I suppose my only real reservation was that the place felt a little short on character, with some of the more modern decor detracting from what is essentially a traditional ale house. Well worth including on any crawl around town though.

Recently reopened pub with a thoroughly refurbished interior. Opened out at some stage to leave a small lounge on one side of the bar and a larger seating / dining area on the other. Not crammed with furniture, and fairly sparse decor too, so has a spacious feel throughout. Also has a fair number of wooden benches on the front and rear patios (the latter down a flight of steps). Seven, mostly local, real ales - including beers from Old Dairy, Dark Star, Downlands and Brighton Bier Factory in addition to the Gun IPA (£4.10) - plus a Seacider cider from the eight handpumps.