Not already a member?
Join our community and
- Rate & review pubs
- Upload pictures
- Add events
JOIN for free NOW
Chat about:
Beer of the Week (w/e 27th April 2025) with Thuck Phat
on the Pub Forum
Detail Pages
The Hoptimist, Dover
Dover
CT16 1JH
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 8 of 10) see review guidelines
Quinno _ left this review about The Hoptimist
Upmarket and contemporary quasi-micro which smells of dogs. Grey, white and mint green interior with a nice selection of chunky wood seating and bar. Some rather feminine decor touches which may or may not appeal. Vaping allowed inside which again, may or may not appeal. There's an upright piano which hopefully gets a tinkling every now and again though on my Saturday afternoon visit it was decent piped music instead. To the rear is a small but nicely secluded rear patio. Four cask from a range of styles dispensed from a cold room with ales from Canterbury, Time & Tide, Kent, Tiny Rebel plus ciders (9) and some craftykeg. Both of my cask were fabulously kept, 2x NBSS 4 and came with friendly service. The ale quality demands a visit, best in show for central Dover and the pub is GBG listed as a consequence.
On 14th August 2024
- rating: 8
[User has posted 5552 recommendations about 5533 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Hoptimist
Thankfully, the former Mash Tun has come back as the Hoptimist; still a micro-pub, but perhaps stretching things a bit with the background music? Anyway, it had a great atmosphere on a Sunday afternoon, and the welcome was friendly. The front section around the compact bar was full, but I managed to find a perch in the smaller rear part leading to the little patio seating area. With four cask ales being served by gravity, including the Bohemian Dark porter from Leatherbritches (£4.50) and eight interesting crafty keg beers available too, this was by far the best pub on my afternoon walk.
On 3rd March 2024
- rating: 8
[User has posted 8679 recommendations about 8678 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Lester Ford left this review about The Mash Tun
The 2017 GBG has 5 pubs in Dover listed with 3 of them being Micro pubs. At 12 noon sharp we started at the Mush Tun, which by my reckoning was the furthest from the football ground so the plan was to work our way up the High St.
Almost banging on the door to get in we were greeted by the husband and wife team both ex publicans who opened this micro a little over 3 years ago. According to them this used to be a bistro and judging by the size it seems to work a lot better as a micro.
Plenty of comfy seating are a mish mash of furniture still leave plenty of places to sit or stand. The bar is small with the ales in the cold room behind which is standard.
5 ales on and 13 ciders / perries, I had a pint of Hopdeamon’s Red @ 4.2%, my pal who’s a lager drinker had to make do with a bottle of Holsten, this was quite amusing.
Stopped for around 30 minutes chatting to the friendly couple before moving on to the ‘spoons.
A decent start to what turned out to be a very very long day.
On 23rd May 2017
- rating: 7
[User has posted 80 recommendations about 78 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
E TA left this review about The Mash Tun
A very pleasant micro which welcomes dogs, humans and one or two other species who occasionally wander in from the less pleasant pub next door. It's a town centre location which manages to be inviting and convivial. The furniture and décor make it look and feel like an Edwardian drawing room complete with a piano, Chesterfields and a long case clock, though an incongruous church pulpit serving as a bar counter shatters that particular image. The landlord is knowledgeable and friendly, the locals a mix of CAMRA members and retired people with nothing better to do. Four ales on gravity plus a good selection of RAIB and eight ciders. The house beer is from Hopdaemon, drinks and biscuits are available for dogs and there is a Tassimo coffee machine, a strange item for a micropub. Prices are already low and they give CAMRA discount in addition. The best bet in Dover's town centre by a long way.
On 24th November 2016
- rating: 9
[User has posted 3516 recommendations about 3480 pubs]