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Detail Pages
The Red Lion, Canterbury
Stodmarsh
Postal town: Canterbury
CT3 4BA
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 8 of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Red Lion
Semi-traditional country inn, located in more of a hamlet than a village. The interior has been opened out slightly but it still retains three separate and characterful seating / dining areas around the central servery. The furniture is in mostly lighter wood so it is not as dark inside as one might expect, and there is plenty of ephemera to look at. Gadds No 5 and a dark bitter with a makeshift clip from Mad Cat (£5.00) available from the pair of handpumps.
On 27th September 2021
- rating: 7
[User has posted 8117 recommendations about 8117 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Roger Button left this review about The Red Lion
Situated in a tiny but picturesque village next to the RSPB nature reserve, the Red Lion has always provided the perfect finish to many a splendid walk across the marshes to the Grove Ferry Inn at Upstreet before following the course of the Stour back again to the Red Lion. More than just a country village pub, the place is a monument to British eccentricity largely thanks to Robert, the non-conforming but (mostly) charming old school gentleman landlord who regularly (according to TV documentary that featured him) knocks back 15 pints on a daily basis.
The brick and weatherboarded pub was built in 1801 on the site of an original 15th Century pub that had previously burnt down. A flagpole in the adjacent car park proudly flies the Union flag as if to announce that this tiny piece of Britain is free from outside or politically correct interference.
The interior centres on an island bar with numerous small sections surrounding it but it can be a bit cramped and narrow in places and not exactly recommended if there is a large group of you. The bar canopy is a mass of dried hops and there is an Aladdins Cave of clutter, collectables, stuffed animals, antiques and general curiosities throughout the pub that make the place a duster’s nightmare. There are no TVs or games (that I could see) and sessions are usually accompanied by old time swing music. To the rear you will find a conservatory and a large well kept beer garden containing a bat and trap court and a managerie of ducks, chickens or neighbouring cats.
Probably the biggest disappointment is that the pub is a Greene King house although on my latest visit they did have Harveys alongside the IPA & Speckled Hen. There are no hand pumps, beers are poured direct from the barrels (there is a list of what is available on a board by the bar). Sundays will inevitably see nibbles on the bar (some rather good pork scratchings when I last called) and the food in general gets good write ups elsewhere although it isn’t cheap and whilst I have never actually dined here, it is something I aim to put right on a future visit.
This really is a wonderful oddity of a pub in a lovely part of Kent and is worthy of a visit even if it is just to read the guest book.
On 10th September 2010
- rating: 9
[User has posted 1239 recommendations about 1233 pubs]