The Ship, Rochester

Refurbished at some stage, but remaining very much a local boozer. Looks deceive a bit, though, because the interior doesn't turn out to be as modern as one might expect from first impressions. Also has a few tables out on a small patio terrace. With no real ale available, I resorted to the John Smith's (badly overpriced at £4.20).

A lively estate pub with a single large bar. There were gaming machines, a pool table and large screens showing live sports. There were also some old-style computer game tables, popular with the young children who seemed to have crept in through no fault of the pub's. There was no real ale, the best they had to offer was Doombar in bottles, which was ridiculously over-priced. A decent community asset, good at what it does, but not somewhere I'm likely to revisit.