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Christies, Birchington
Birchington
CT7 9RD
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 5½ of 10) see review guidelines
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about Christies
Calls itself a wine bar, but beer is generally the order of the day here as far as I could see on a Sunday lunchtime. Anyway, the wedge-shaped building has plenty of windows on the long facade of the station side of the ground floor so the place had a light look with semi-modern furniture around an almost island servery. The rear beer garden is a bit unusual as it is not fenced off from the road and there is a memorial obelisk in the grounds. Food available daily except Mondays and regular live music advertised. Just London Pride (£4.00) available from the two handpumps on different parts of the counter.
On 8th April 2024
- rating: 6
[User has posted 8117 recommendations about 8117 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Roger Button left this review about Christies Wine Bar & Bistro
Situated near the railway station, this is the first (or last) drinking hole in Birchington. The building was built in the 1870’s as the Seabreeze Lady’s Cycle Factory but has been subsequently extended over the years to what we see now. It has previously also been used as a builder’s office, printers and an estate agent until becoming a bar about 10 years ago.
Despite its label as a Wine Bar & Bistro, it does come over more as a modern pub/bar although there is a separate restaurant downstairs and function room upstairs, neither of which I ventured into.
The décor is contemporary with shades of browns, greys and beiges, sofa sections, personalised picture windows and fancy candle holders on each table. There are a couple of tall barrel tables and potted plants and everything that rather typifies the modern pub. Taking everything into account, nothing really feels out of place despite the age of the building and one can assume that much of the interior had been significantly altered long before it became a pub. Outside is an open beer garden complete with a memorial obelisk honuring the poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti who is buried nearby.
The only ale was an unclipped Doom Bar which would have been decent value at £2.90 had the quality been better. The rest of the offerings were the usual kegs and lagers. Food was a selection of pub grub classics at around £7-£9.
The pub did appear to be the late night haunt of the area and most weekends there is live music that attracts a mix of people although my visit coincided with a music festival at nearby Quex Park and with late trains few and far between, the numbers present may have been swelled by festival goers with time to kill and taking advantage of the extended hours whilst the other pubs in town were all closed. That said, it all seemed quite harmonius for late Saturday night.
It wouldn’t be my pub of choice in town but it did serve its purpose at the time although I would need a better choice of ales and an improvement in quality to recommend a specific visit.
On 8th August 2012
- rating: 5
[User has posted 1239 recommendations about 1233 pubs]