The Eagle, Maidstone

A traditional back street town boozer as described below. The covered area at the back was full of smoke, some of which drifted into the bar, but it wasn’t intolerable. The humour was robust, many of the human locals intoxicated, while the canine locals were equally as friendly though more eloquent. The TV in the corner was switched off, the stereo was belting out loud rock music, and the barmaid was keeping good order. The one ale on was Harvey’s Sussex Bitter,which was in good condition. Pubs like this are becoming rarer.

The Eagle is made up of a small L shaped bar and an area down some steps to the left that houses some seating, a pool table, a dartboard and a large TV. There is also a plasma screen in the bar area that was showing muted daytime TV and I didn’t spot any sport advertised. There is a jukebox that was playing some very low random music during my lunchtime visit on Tuesday. The bar is stocked with the usual suspects so I opted for a generic lager that was served with a smile by the landlady. The three locals propping up the bar were harmless enough, but there was hardly much of an atmosphere. I did spot an advertisement for a disco night in a couple of weeks and this is an over 21s pub. There are better pubs in the immediate area.