Alberrys, Canterbury

A dull wanabee wine bar with no character, no real ale (though there was the option of a bottled Spitfire) and, unsurprisingly, no customers other than us. It occupies a fine 18th Century building which has clearly seen more salubrious tenants in the past. Come in for the architecture but go elsewhere to eat and drink.

The thing I will remember most about this dingy wine bar, just a short walk from the High Street, is the incredibly surly door man who was very reluctant to allow our sixteen-strong stag party group in, despite a notable lack of other customers. Eventually he grunted some form of assent and shepherded us through the small, rather bland looking main bar, down a deadly spiral staircase and into a grotty basement bar which we shared with two bored barmaids, suddenly thrown into action by our mammoth order, and a crazy DJ playing banging hardcore R&B tunes to absolutely no-one. The basement bar seemed a lot larger than its ground floor counterpart, with a relaxed seating area in the front section and a gloomy bar and dancefloor through an archway to the rear. Aside from the vaulted brick ceiling, there is virtually nothing of interest to mention and we finished our drinks and beat a quick retreat just before the DJ segued seamlessly into cheesy pop hits. No real ale of course, and a limited draught selection too, so we ended up drinking spirits or bottled lagers. I seem to recall ending up with a bottle of Corona with a wedge of lime stuck in the neck of the bottle. We visited a lot of venues throughout Canterbury over a Friday and Saturday night and this place was the quietest by a long stretch. I found very little to recommend and wouldn't give it a second look if I passed by again.