Fleur De Lis, Gillingham

The Fleur De Lis is a two bar pub with at least one plasma screen in each bar for showing football on Sky Sports. There is also a jukebox, which was off whilst a match was playing, and a pool table in the front bar. There is no real ale, but the Guinness was on good form and the woman working behind the bar was friendly enough. This pub is fine as a local, but I doubt many travel far to drink in it.

The Fleur is a shadow of its former Edwardian glory, now a slightly shabby pub in a run down part of town, a business which appears to eb struggling but is still worth a visit for a number of reasons. The pub is a large detached building with two sizeable bars fitted with original marble fireplaces. It is next to the bus depot and so is useful for travellers who still use theat service. No real ale on offer - the landlord says he just can't sell it even though he has tried, and he keeps a few bottled ales on for the few discerning customers who don't want to drink megakeg. An interesting feature is the historic stained glass windows to the front, one of which has been vandalised by fitting an extractor fan through one of the panes (not done by the current landlord, I hasten to add). I will come here again becasue the reception was friendly and the atmosphere pleasant, and it's worth fitting in on a crawl (if you don't mind bottled ale).