Crown & Thistle, Gravesend

Going back in again this week for a full look and review but personally I am glad it is back open as a pub

I found this pub a bit strange at first. When I arrived just after midday on a Friday morning there was a sofa to the left with a duvet and sheets sprawled across it and another sofa with a load of shopping piled on it. It appeared that the man who was apparently the landlord had been using the sofa as a bed. After passing by these two front sofas the pub is a long single room with the bar on the right and an area before the garden with low tables and chairs. There was no sign of any disco equipment here or any evidence that live or recorded music is a feature here. Radio 2 was on at a fairly low volume. They don't do hot food but there is a message on a blackboard saying that food from the local Indian or Chinese take-away can be consumed here. The bar has six hand pumps. One was turned that looked like it was Young's Special and the others had Young's Ordinary, Inveralmond Lia Fail, Cottage Oarsome, St Austell Proper Job and Kent Rum Enigma Black IPA. Although I know thet the normal Kent Enigma is 5.5% ABV this was advertised as 7.5% with a marker pen having overwritten the ABV on the clip. The friendly woman behind the bar thought that the beer was produced by adding rum to the normal Enigma brew rather than storing it in old rum barrels. I enjoyed this beer so much that I stayed for another two and knocked on the head a visit to the Jolly Drayman. I believe the beer was 5.5% but couldn't find any mention of it online so who knows? For a former CAMRA pub of the year I thought the beer choice here was fairly underwhelming so it was lucky that the local Rum Enigma was available. Despite that I found it an enjoyable and quirky pub to visit.

The Crown and Thistle is a thin pub with some seating at the front and a bar on the right hand wall. There is seating along the left wall and at the rear there was some disco equipment set up. The white painted ceiling is crossed with black painted beams that are adorned with old pump clips and have tankards hanging from them. Along with other books the Good Beer Guide can be found in the bookshelf opposite the bar and even though slightly inebriated I managed to find this pub in it. That was after pulling a few Bernard Cornwell novels onto my head, much to the amusement of the friendly local crowd. There is a sleepy pub dog called Ted and children are not permitted. The bar supports six hand pumps, but one of these was unused and another was off. This left four available ales which were Young’s Ordinary and Kent Brewery’s KGB along with Cottage Brewing Company’s Duchess and Light Brigade. Out the back there is a beer garden with some covered seating. This is one of the better pubs of the area.