Ales of the Unexpected, Margate

I turned up slightly before opening time at this, my sixth micropub of the day, and witnessed the opening process: shutter up, door open, bicycle on pavement. Once inside, it is a deep and narrow room, with the front room having maps adorning the walls, and the bar counter in the back room. As with most of these Kent micros there are no hand pumps, beers being brought out from the cold room. This is a very friendly pub, with the owner as well as the barman leading the conversation. The owner attempted to change my beer for me, after we'd been discussing local beer styles for a few minutes, saying that Isle of Purbeck Best Bitter 3.6% was towards the end of the barrel and the more recently tapped Leigh on Sea Two Tree Island 4.5% would be better. I resisted, because to me there was nothing wrong with my beer, and besides, I didn't want to be switching to a stronger beer as I still had two more pubs to do and then cycle back to Canterbury from Herne. I'd be happy to call in here again if in the area. Date of visit: 1st May 2019

Very quiet on our Saturday afternoon visit, with only one customer sitting near the bar. Most probably everyone had headed down to the beach for the afternoon. The barman was friendly and chatty which made this a worthy visit, along with a very good pint of Pig and Porter Lilac Time Mild. There was also a choice of two other beers, which were Milestone Hoptimsim and Banks and Taylor Glider, plus a choice of 8 ciders.