St. George Hotel, Chatham

The hotel reception is found at the entrance and then doors go through to the open plan tile floored L-shaped bar area. The counter on the rear wall supports Fosters, Guinness, Brixton Beer and another couple of craft keg. The bar was unmanned, I imagine the young lady on reception does both jobs during the day. A radio was playing some background music, not that the other two people present were listening to it as they were sleeping on the sofas that run up the right-hand wall. A television on the back bar was looping hotel adverts. This feels like a bar that you’d find in a 2-star hotel… oh, it is a bar in a 2-star hotel. I don’t know anyone that would drink here unless they were very lazy guests. I actually stayed here and didn’t drink in the bar, it was that depressing.

Primarily a blue collar residential hotel and event venue, but the bar is open to the public and it has, in the past, been a good place to start a crawl. It sells draft beer – currently only Bombardier which tasted fresh, was served at the right emperature and was most enjoyable. The bar is a single flag-stoned room at the front, furnished with tables, chairs, some comfy chairs, and a mutant cactus. It's next to the hotel's garage parking area so can be noisy, while the pink ambient light makes it feel a bit continental in the evening, although the large skylight makes it quite bright during the day. There is a tv screen above the bar which, through the surround-sound system, completely overwhelmed the atmosphere. The staff were pleasant and the customers passive (I had to prod one chap to make sure he was still alive). OK to drop in when passing, but that's about it nowadays.