The City Arms, Canterbury

Official site of The City Arms - thecityarmsinnpub.co.uk

Official site of The City Arms - thecityarmsinnpub.co.uk

Summed up nicely by others, below, the potential of this pub stemming from its history and location is far from being realised, despite the erroneous sign at the door proclaiming it as a traditional English pub. It still has no real ale. When I asked, the under-intelligent barmaid said “What is that? Is that like IPA? They sold it back in the day but no-one sells it anymore because it’s a hassle to clean the pumps.” The choices were Staropramen, Meantime IPA (oh the irony), Carling, Atlantic, Blue Moon, Guinness, Grolsch, Asahi, Stella, Madri and Praha. Not worth the bother.

City centre pub situated up a narrow street and which looks quite promising on approach. However, this was a major disappointment. Real ales are no longer served, leaving a keg selection of Sharp's Offshore & Atlantic, Madri, Stella Artois, Coors, Asahi, Pravha, Carling, Aspalls, Guinness, Meantime IPA, Peroni, Blue Moon, Staropramen, Grolsh & Carling Black Fruit. The pub/bar appears to be Thai-owned and there is a small list of Thai snacks you can order. The interior is dark and walls are decorated with loads of American signs and number plates, along with a working UK pedestrian crossing button. All very strange and not quite what we'd expected.

Could be a good pub, but isn't, unfortunately... It must be old, given its location and the low ceilings, but the decor mostly comprises breweriana and old American number-plates. Mix of junk-shop furniture too. The real ale (a concept seemingly unknown to the bar-staff, mostly new students starting the academic year I suspect) seems to have gone, so the Sharp's Atlantic (£4.50) was probably the least worst option from the keg taps on two hooped founts.