The Hook & Hatchet, Maidstone

For the first five years of my drinking life, this was my 'local' as I frequented it most nights of the week. In those days, despite being miles out on it's own 'in the sticks' the place was so busy on Friday and Saturdays nights you couldn't get in the door. It was a legend of a pub run by Norm and Carol in the days when 'scampi and chips in a basket' was THE food. Today the food menu has expanded along with the size of the pub but nothing can compare to your teenage memories I guess. Therefore from a personal point of view I'd rate it today as a 5 but putting those past expectancies aside it's only fair I give it 7 since the location and the efforts of keeping such a rural pub in existance deserve that. The food and ale are fine - it's just the lane it resides in is my memory lane.