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Submitted on Wednesday, 28^th August 2024
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The Flower Pot, Maidstone

96 Sandling Road
Maidstone
ME14 2RJ

Phone: 01622757705

Correct details

Served areas

Maidstone Town

Reviews of The Flower Pot (Average Rating: 7½ of 10) Add Review see review guidelines

Quinno _ left this review about The Flower Pot

What is now a backstreet pub opposite the thundering A229, separated by a high wall on what sounds like it was once on the old main road. A classic CAMRA GBG pick and it had the general trappings, except perhaps customers, on my Saturday early afternoon visit. There’s two rooms over two levels with a traditional alehouse feel - dried hops wood floor etc. Lower room has an over-dominant pool table. Lots of events advertised - they keep themselves busy and to be fair in the less-than-stellar location fair play to them for trying to drive trade as you aren’t going to randomly walk past the place.11 pumps at the bar with five actually on, plus some boxed ciders. My Goachers was a bit butterscotch-tasting though not sure it's the pub's fault in this case so I’ll go with a GBG-par score of NBSS 3. Think this is more an evening pub, if I find myself back in Maidstone I’d leave it towards the end and see there’s a bit more atmosphere.

On 2^nd September 2024 - rating: 7
[User has posted 5552 recommendations about 5533 pubs]

Please Note: This review is over a year old.

Blue Scrumpy left this review about The Flower Pot

Corner boozer to the north of Maidstone town centre.

There are a couple of rooms. Both have access to the bar. The lower room contains a pool table, whilst the upper room contains the 9 real ale handpulls. Just a couple of other customers were in when we arrived. They appeared to be CAMRA members and husband and wife. A further customer arrived and sat with them during our visit.

The barman was reasonably knowledgeable about beer and we had a good conversation, with him and the other customers about local pubs and beers.

Goacher's Gold Star is the regular real ale. Guests on for our visit were Moor Illumination, Fyne Ales Jarl, Kent Madagascar, Odyssey Underground Up & Oakham Citra. Also on the bar in the upper room were 4 boxes of real cider - Biddenden's Dry & Bushels & Lilley's Mango Cider & Rhubarb Cider. All are listed on Untappd.

Of 10 pubs we visited in Maidstone, I would certainly rate this in the top 3. Although, it did feel a bit quiet on our Tuesday afternoon visit.

Discounts are offered on pints between 1-4pm on a Tuesday. CAMRA discounts are offered at other times. However, I'm not sure our halves qualified for a discount and we didn't enquire. Pizzas were advertised for Wednesdays.

On 17^th May 2023 - rating: 8
[User has posted 3040 recommendations about 3038 pubs]

Please Note: This review is over a year old.

Pub SignMan left this review about The Flower Pot

This is a very nice split-level, backstreet pub to the North of the town centre. The lower front room has a bit of a public bar feel to it, mainly due to the presence of a pool table to one side, although the room has been smartly set up, with dark red walls, neat floorboards and an attractive bevelled counter front, which a few locals quickly lined up along on an otherwise quiet mid-week afternoon. Steps to the rear lead up to a quieter rear room with the same flooring and a squarer bar counter beneath a canopy with a nice Kentish mural across it, which also noted the pub’s two Kent Pub Of The Year awards from 2010 and 2011. Loads more CAMRA awards are hung around the room, which has been furnished with comfy bench seating arranged into booth-like formations. A nice fireplace stands on the back wall, with an attractive moulded surround, whilst the decor includes a few old tankards, vases, lamps, books and the like. The side entrance had a decorative moulded door frame which is worth checking out. Music played quietly in the front room, but from where I was sitting in the back bar, I could barely make it out. Food is available from the pub’s in house pizza menu, with several bar snack options also listed.
On the bar, a handsome row of handpulls was dispensing Brit Hop Filmstar (a bargain at £3.70 a pint), Oakham Citra, Black Iris Bajan Breakfast and Goachers Gold Star. Six ciders were also listed on TV screens around the room. I took a pint of the Brit Hop, which was in excellent condition - probably the best conditioned beer I’ve had post-pandemic. The barmaid was friendly and when I arrived she was on her hands and knees scrubbing the bar counter - the sort of attention to detail that clearly also ensures they serve top quality ale.
This is an excellent pub in just about every respect, from the traditional two bar layout with comfortable seating and smart decor, to the friendly service, interesting beer range and care and attention paid to quality and presentation. If there’s a better pub in Maidstone, I didn’t find it, and I’d love to come back here some time, preferably when it’s a bit busier, to sample more of those great ales.

On 21^st December 2022 - rating: 9
[User has posted 3350 recommendations about 3350 pubs]

View more reviews of The Flower Pot (8)

This pub features in the following crawls:
Maidstone East and back again by Manky Badger

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