The Peter Cushing (JD Wetherspoon), Whitstable

The Peter Cushing was a somewhat controversial addition to the Whitstables pub scene when it opened last year with some of the townsfolk objecting to the presence of a Wetherspoons in town. The pub is housed in what was originally the Oxford Cinema, rebuilt in 1936 on the site of an earlier cinema called the Oxford Picture Hall. The cinema closed in 1984 and became a Bingo Hall before closing and being snapped up by Wetherspoons. The pub honours the famous horror actor who had a seafront home in Whitstable from the late 50’s to his death. The basic character of the cinema has been retained with the foyer housing some of the original cinema equipment as well as a couple of Cushing’s original watercolours, a pastime for which he was obviously less noted but to my untrained eyes, equally talented. The main body of the pub is down a few steps with the bar at the far end crowned by a couple of large portraits of Cushing although the regular ‘Spoons local snippets focus more on the local oyster industry and festival (the Cushing snippets can mostly be found in the Foyer). There are some large plain mirrors and tasteful commissioned photographic artworks on display and the large hexagonal black and white patterned lanterns dangling overhead from the high semi-barrel roof are quite eye catching. There were 6 ales available including a local Goody beer from nearby Herne and the staff were friendly and efficient (yes, you heard that right), especially given that my visit coincided with a busy breakfast run on Oyster Festival day. Overall this is a pretty decent ‘Spoons with a decent amount of character and whereas some people in town may look down their noses, it seems to be playing its part although the impact on some of the more established pubs nearby may not yet have filtered through.