The Dead Pigeon, Rochester

Perhaps more of a compact alehouse than a micro-pub because there is plenty of space in the slightly split-level interior suited to the regular live music. However, the decor and eclectic mix of furniture is just what you would expect. Seven real ales on a range of styles on gravity when I visited, including the tasty Dark Matter blackcurrant porter from Vale of Glamorgan (£3.20). Various draught ciders also offered. It bit of a walk along the lengthy High Street linking Rochester and Chatham, but well worth the effort.

A new business in a building that was actually once a Georgian era pub called The Albion, then used as a shop. The current business only occupies the ground floor, but the team wants to expand into the cellar with their own micro brewery. At present the front bar is the only bar, half available for drinking, while the rear half is set up as a small stage for live music acts, including one of the owners who is still a practising professional musician. The conversion is all a bit haphazard, but it seems to work and it's early days. the furniture is what is becoming the micro de facto standard in plain wood, built for drinking not for comfort, plus one or to recycled cable drums being used as tables. The 'cellar', around which I was lucky enough to be shown, is house in a room at the back which, conveniently, stays at a constant temperature due to the building's construction. There are 8 cask ales on gravity in here alongside 4 boxed ciders and a selection of Kentish wines. I has pints each of caveman Paleolithic and Neanderthal, both in perfect condition and very enjoyable, as was the conversation. A brilliant new business, lots of entrepreneurial flair, and a valuable asset in the regeneration of this otherwise moribund area of Rochester.