The Beaver Inn, Ashford

Tidy detached Shepherd Neame house, featuring a refurbished interior with dark blue fabric on all the furniture. Partly opened-out to leave a 'L'-shaped interior with the main bar and seating area to the left, and another room of similar size with the pool table a little more seating and a smaller counter to the right. Also has a couple of wooden benches out on the front patio. Master Brew and the new Spitfire Gold (£3.40) available from two pairs of handpumps.

Official site of The Beaver Inn - www.shepherdneame.co.uk

Official site of The Beaver Inn - www.shepherdneame.co.uk

The bar of the Beaver Inn is split by a wall stretches from the bar to three quarters the width of the pub creating a left hand lounge bar and a smaller right hand public bar. The public bar houses a pool table that is free to play every Sunday and a dartboard. There are a couple of signed photos of dart players Kevin Painter and Bob Anderson on the wall so darts is taken seriously in here, as the pristine board proves. The left hand side houses seating and there is a jukebox that was playing some background music. There is a plasma screen in both bars, which were both off during my visit and I didn’t note any Sky Sports advertisements. There were only two locals sitting at the bar when I visited early on a recent Thursday evening, but the service was very friendly and the young lady behind the jump didn’t mind as I fumbled around for a five pound note. This is a Shepherd Neame pub so I wasn’t surprised to see their usual range of draught alongside four hand pumps. Unfortunately all four were drawing Master Brew which isn’t great, unless of course you love MB. There is an advertised beer garden and smoking area to the left of the pub, but I didn’t visit this area during my visit. There is parking at the rear and every Sunday there is a meat raffle at 14:00. I would use this place if I lived locally, but I don’t so I doubt that I’ll ever return.