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Image posted by Just a quick pint, then I'm off
Submitted on Sunday, 5th February 2023
With picture contributions to 9888 other pubs
View all this pub's pictures (11 more images)
Detail Pages
The Swan & Dog, Ashford
Great Chart
Postal town: Ashford
TN23 3AN
Served areas
Reviews of The Swan & Dog (Average Rating: 4 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 Swan & Dog
Attractive village pub with a distinctive brick facade and a beer garden at the front (which might once have been a car park?). The interior has been opened out somewhat to leave various seating / dining areas around the central counter, but the semi-traditional furniture and decor still leave some character. With two of the four handpumps in use, I found the expected Master Brew and Whitstable Bay Pale (£4.45) offering of a Shepherd Neame house (although it is not branded as such).
On 11th September 2022
- rating: 6
[User has posted 8117 recommendations about 8117 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about The Swan & Dog
My visit on a Sunday recently was thankfully more enjoyable than that of the previous reviewer several years ago. The large outside seating area at the front is still there, but on a wet Sunday in January it was unoccupied. There's a car park behind the pub, but it was nowhere near large enough to accommodate all the customers who had driven to the pub on Sunday. Inside it's fairly large with plenty of normal tables and chairs wrapped around the central peninsular bar. The ceiling was festooned with sheaves of dried hops, as well as having an old ladder on the ceiling presumably once used for hop picking as a tribute to one of Kent's traditional industries. There are also some false beams, or batons perhaps, on the ceiling as well as the walls having fake nicotine-coloured paint or wash on them. Personally, I'm not sure these fake additions add anything worthwhile, but I don't suppose many people care about such things.
They did have three ales on - Old Dairy Swan & Dog (re-badged Green Top I suspect); Goacher's Ale (both Kent brews); plus Harvey's Best Bitter, with a fourth handpump having a reversed clip. I had to ask the barmaid for the details of the Old Dairy and Goacher's ales, as a family including a young child were committing Pub Annoyance #95 by preventing any access to the pumpclips. All of the tables were laid for diners, in that they all had paper napkins and knives and forks on them, but there was no suggestion that any of them were reserved for diners. I didn't get to look at a menu, but clearly food was big business on Sunday lunchtime, and probably at other times as well.
This is an OK pub. I don't think I would recommend going far out of your way to visit it, but it's a decent enough place to stop off for a pint if you're on your way to Ashford.
On 14th February 2016
- rating: 5
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Manky Badger left this review about The Swan Inn
I have been passing the pub from time to time. And in that time nothing about the place has changed my opinion of it.
It may well be the most wonderful pub in the world. It may well serve the world’s finest food, accompanied by the world’s finest ales in the company of the world’s finest people. But I will never know.
Take yesterday’s visit for example. Despite freezing temperatures and snow on the ground, at 1.30pm the beer garden had a dozen assorted thugs and thug-ettes standing around in it. They were all obviously drunk on lager and were shouting abuse at passers-by. In the past they’ve been content to be screeching at each other. Now they’ve turned on the general public.
So there I was, faced with two pubs within ten yards of each other. One has a garden filled with yobs screaming abuse at the world, one does not. I suppose this pub fills a useful niche for those who like to shout whilst necking lager by the gallon.
On 5th December 2010
- rating: 1
[User has posted 5 recommendations about 5 pubs]
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- Official site of The Swan & Dog - swananddog.co.uk
- Facebook - Swan & Dog
- CAMRA WhatPub :: The Swan & Dog - whatpub.com
Pluckley, 4.92 miles, 1 hr 34 min walk (show)
Charing (Kent), 5.93 miles, 1 hr 54 min walk (show)
Pub Details
Pub details supplied by members of this site to the best of their knowledge. Please check with pub directly before making a special trip.
- Accommodation : No last updated 21 April 2015 by ROB Camra
- Beer Festivals : No last updated 21 April 2015 by ROB Camra
- Beer Garden : Yes last updated 21 April 2015 by ROB Camra
- CAMRA Discount : No last updated 21 April 2015 by ROB Camra
- Car Park : Yes last updated 14 February 2016 by Rex Rattus
- Child Friendly : Yes last updated 21 April 2015 by ROB Camra
- Dog Friendly : Yes last updated 21 April 2015 by ROB Camra
- Hot Food : Yes last updated 14 February 2016 by Rex Rattus
- Live Music : No last updated 21 April 2015 by ROB Camra
- Live TV Sports : No last updated 21 April 2015 by ROB Camra
- Micropub : No last updated 21 April 2015 by ROB Camra
- Real Ale : Yes last updated 14 February 2016 by Rex Rattus
- Real Cider : Yes last updated 21 April 2015 by ROB Camra
- Wheelchair Access : Yes last updated 21 April 2015 by ROB Camra
