The Bell Inn, Maidstone

Previously a pleasant local on the outskirts of Bearsted, the pub is currently owned by GK and has lost almost all its charm. There is a fair sized car park at the side, which leads t a large garden with various wooden covered areas, presumably erected to meet COVID social distancing requirements. It feels a bit like a UN compound in Somalia, but without the warm night air. You enter through the front door into the older part of the pub, a small public bar to the left, a larger lounge area to the right, the latter extending into an even larger modern extension which feels like a more corporate dining venue. It's all open plan. The area on the left has a TV, the lounge area a modern brick built fireplace with a woodburner. Two ales on, GK IPA and Abbott, both in average condition. The staff were unhelpful and not that friendly. It took an age to get served. Having been shown to our table and left for 20 minutes it transpired we were supposed to order our drinks online - a bit difficult of you don't have an internet-enabled phone with you. They wouldn't take cash, either. The locals weren't that friendly. Food was pub grub plus stone-baked pizzas, reasonable value for money but not that exciting. I don't think I'll be coming back any time soon.

The Bell Inn felt like it had just opened when I visited just after 15:00 last Friday afternoon. The bar area is found at the front of the pub where there is some seating to the right and a dartboard to the left. There was some music playing off the plasma screen and I didn’t notice any live sport advertised. There is a seating area at the rear of the pub but the lights were out and the curtains drawn. There is a back door which I imagine leads to some sort of beer garden, but again this was out of bounds. The bar is stocked with standard draught and supports three hand pumps. One of these was unused, but a cash bag was over the nozzle so I imagine that I just happened to wander in when it wasn’t drawing anything. The other two hand pumps were drawing Greene King IPA and Thwaites’ Wainwright. There is also a cocktail and hot drinks menu and food is served with the mains coming in between £8 and £10. I found the surroundings to be comfortable enough and the governor was very friendly, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to drink here again.