Pantiles Tap, Tunbridge Wells

A below pavement level craft bar with sixteen taps along the rear wall, quite small inside and along the lines of a micropub. My Thornbridge Cocoa Wonderland was top class.

Set slightly below street level on the busy Pantiles, this is a relatively new craft beer bar that has sadly discontinued cask ale in recent months. The pub has a tiled floor, with the servery located along the rear wall of the right hand side of the building. The bar has a good wood panelled counter and stone bar back with all the keg taps lined along the back wall, in true craft beer bar style, although the lack of a beer board made it impossible to know what beers were on, as the taps are far too far away to be read. Opposite the bar, fridges full of bottles and cans as well as plenty of boxed ciders helped expand the range available. There’s a nice seating area to the right of the bar with pews and low stools around a pleasant brick fireplace. Wacky artwork, a cool clock and some more traditional pub knick-knacks have been put on display around the walls to good effect. To the left of the bar there are a few kegs, a single table with a couple of chairs and a drinking ledge with high stools under a mirror, with lots of local listings material stuffed on the ledge. This mixed use space leads on to an overspill drinking area, empty on my Friday night visit, where chairs and sofas combine to create an approximation of a lounge. More mirrors, some retro beer advertisements and a shelf with an extensive collection of beer bottles across three walls, were the main points of interest. There was a good soundtrack playing and with most punters being friendly locals, the place had a bit of a micropub feel to it. With no ale available and the keg taps too far away to read, I had to enlist the help of the friendly barmaid to help me figure out what to pick from the 16 keg taps. I ended up with a half of Hammerton Crunch – a 5.4% peanut butter milk stout, which was a most unusual but surprisingly enjoyable drinking experience. Plenty of the taps have been set aside for cider and perry options to compliment those in the fridges. This is a good addition to the pub scene at this end of town and I enjoyed my brief visit here, which was enhanced by the helpful service and interesting beer choice. Definitely worth a look when in town and perhaps if enough people enquire about the ale, they might bring some back eventually.

I can see the attraction of the Tap, but it didn't do it for me. The selection of ale was large, but all similar with no brown beer in evidence. Along with another in our drinking clan, I decided to sit this one out. Give it a go and decide for yourself.