The Woodland Tavern, Gillingham

Basic community pub with a focus on darts (with five boards in different parts of the L-shaped interior). Given a surprisingly light refurbishment at some stage, but not sure that really helps. With two very disused handpumps and a rather dismal keg selection, I had to resort to a John Smith's (£4.00) but ended up staying a bit longer as the long version of LA Woman from The Doors came on the jukebox and one just can't leave half way through that...

Originally The Woodlands Tavern, named after the home of John Lock, Woodlands House, it became The Canterbury Tales in the 1990s, presumably to disassociate it from the Hell's Angels haunt it had become. It was built in the 1860s and has now been knocked through into a single carpeted bar, though they've had to add an incongruous column, but has retained a lot of its original character, including an original fireplace which has been incorporated into the decor. It is still occasionally violent, but on this visit I found a good traditional local boozer which occasionally hosts live music acts. Too many gaming machines, a pool table and a dartboard are on a raised games area, and there is a tv screen and large projector in the main bar area. Staff were very friendly towards us, but they exhibited a no-nonsense approach to a couple of idiots who crept in. I was surprised to find Betty Stoggs on draft - it was in good condition and went down well. All in all, a pretty decent pub which I would include on a crawl and would be happy to come back to.

Canterbury Tales is a large L shaped pub with a raised area at the rear where a pool table and dartboard can be found. There is another dartboard by the bar at the front of the pub. Standard draught lines the bar and one of the hand pumps was unused leaving a lone ale. Sky Sports is shown, but the four other customers were all playing poker with the manager, who was a very friendly bloke. I’d have no problem returning here.