Grove Tavern, Tunbridge Wells

A friendly back street pub, though quiet on my early afternoon stop. It offers 3 ales - Landlord, Harvey's and 61 Deep. There was nothing more exciting than Amstel on the taps. A row of stools at the bar, a pool table plus a few small tables squeeze in to the small room. If you're comfortable with the well cared-for mainstream offerings, it's worth a visit.

This pub is definitely what I would call a proper locals boozer and was indeed full of locals on my afternoon visit, very well (as he does) described by PSM below, the beers on Were Dark Star Hophead , Timothy Taylors Landlord and Harveys Sussex Best. Off the beaten track but well worth looking for.

This is a very basic, traditional side street boozer located up a rather steep side road off the main High Street. The pub has a simple bare boarded interior with the servery along much of the right hand wall. The front part of the pub is dominated by a popular pool table that various people seemed to be queued up to play on, arguably detracting from the pub’s traditional feel but clearly helping to pull a few extra punters through the door. The bar has a plain tongue and groove counter with a similar bar back that features a promising looking ‘Coming Soon’ ale list. The pool table means that seating is forced along the left side of the room, with some small tables and low stools opposite the bar, broken by a tidy brick fireplace with a plain mirror above and various certificates and other items relating to the pub’s charitable work to one side. There’s a sofa in the rear left corner under a flat screen TV which was turned off on this visit, with a slot machine and small table rounding out the furniture at the back of the room. Playing cards and traditional games can be found in a window sill back here and the decor includes a shelf full of rugby and whiskey themed items as well as some unusual clocks made from old 7” records, which should not be taken as a hint towards the pub’s music policy though – there was no piped music playing at all throughout the course of my stay. The aforementioned ‘Coming Soon’ board hints towards the pub’s commitment to real ale and they had four active handpulls on the go when I arrived, dispensing Taylors Landlord, Harvey’s Sussex Best, Marston’s EPA and a Pale Ale from a brewery I failed to note. The EPA was in pretty decent shape and set me back £4.00 for a pint, which seems to be about par for the course in these parts. I liked this pub which made up for a fairly mainstream ale selection by creating a pleasant environment in which to relax over a few pints. The staff were very friendly and the pub had that feel to it that makes you think it will always offer a warm welcome to a stranger. I only had a rushed visit here, but I’d certainly be more than happy to return, as it fitted in nicely with the other pubs on my crawl.

I agree totally with Just a... proper pub off the beaten track and well worth a visit. Great pint of Harveys on the bar, decent food and a pool table. Nice welcoming staff and chatty locals make this a destination in Tunbridge Wells.

This is a delightful old pub situated up a narrow hill lane off the High St. It felt like stepping into a bygone era on entering, no music, TV switched off, a clutch of clearly regular locals sat on stools around the bar were chewing the fat over various issues while a friendly golden retriever lay across the floor. A pie warmer contained sausage rolls, scotch eggs and "Kentish pies". A bare boarded rectangular room with the bar central on a side wall causing a small return area each end. The front had a pool table which remained unused throughout my visit while a panelled wall at the other end which was covered in beer mats had a dartboard behind a pair of shutters. Beamed ceilings with beer related quotations and areas of full height boarding to the walls, painted mustard and cream. Apart from the bar stools seating was limited to a handful of Britannia tables. Various framed bits of this and that plus a shelf of whisky boxes forms the majority of the décor. There are four handpumps, JW Lees Supernova, Landlord, Harvey's Best and a nice drop of Exmoor Gold (£3.60). The JWL and the Landlord were both sparklered which shows an attention to detail. You don't find too many old back street pubs like this any more, essentially unchanged for years, I liked it in here enormously.

This is an old school back street boozer that claims to be one of the oldest in Tunbridge Wells, a claim that I thought was fairly meaningless. I think I can say for sure that it's older than the other three pubs in town I visited. It's a small local pub with a single room and wooden floorboards. It's fairly obvious that it was once two rooms but not any more. As you enter there is a pool table that takes up a large section of the right of the pub. At the other end there is a large TV screen that was mercifully turned off and there is a jukebox. The bar is on one side of the room and has four hand pumps. On this occasion they had Landlord, Harvey's Sussex Best, GK Rocking Rudolph and Long Man Long Blonde. I went for the Long Blonde which was in good nick but rather expensive at £3.65 for a sub 4.0% beer. I thought the beer choice here was fairly dull and while it's a pleasant enough place I didn't think it was anything special, it's just a local boozer. It is GBG 2016 listed.