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Gus Woltmann with sheffield hatter
on the Pub Forum
Image posted by peter ashworth
Submitted on Saturday, 2nd February 2019
With picture contributions to 26766 other pubs
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Detail Pages
Thirsty Pig, Maidstone
Maidstone
ME15 6LP
Served areas
Reviews of Thirsty Pig (Average Rating: 6½ of 10) see review guidelines
Blue Scrumpy left this review about Thirsty Pig
15th century pub which looks great from the outside and has plenty of character on the inside too. There is a small ground floor bar with another room behind the bar. Two uneven and steep staircases take you up to two further rooms and the toilets. There is also an enclosed yard at the rear. Although that seemed a bit depressing.
A couple of locals were sat chatting in the tiny main bar area, whilst another customer was sat on his own in the quieter room to the rear. The Scottish barman was friendly and seemed to be the subject of a bit of banter.
The 3 ales on were McCann's Janet Street, Kent Old Skool & Gadd's She Sells Sea Shells. The cider was Biddenden's Bushels. Well worth a visit.
On 17th May 2023
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2283 recommendations about 2282 pubs]
E TA left this review about Thirsty Pig
As described below this is a colourful, quirky pub with some lively conversation to be had. It was previously called The Minstrel, while nowadays it veers between having and not having the 'Olde' prefix. They are dog friendly, but I wouldn’t want to bring children in. Ales on were Gadd’s No5, Iron Pier Imperial Stout and Blackbird Stout from Pig & Porter. Also on draught were Arnsberg Lager, Motörhead Road Crew, Orchard View Cider, Paulaner Pils, Guinness, Amstel and San Miguel. It feels a bit contrived due to the furniture layout and the atmosphere was a bit lacking, but the beer was good and it would make a decent inclusion in a crawl.
On 2nd May 2023
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3237 recommendations about 3202 pubs]
Pub SignMan left this review about Thirsty Pig
This is a characterful multiple room pub on a busy crossroads to the South of the town centre. The pub looks pretty large on approach, thanks to a wide frontage, but inside, there are just two small rooms joined by a dark corridor, so it felt pretty quaint and cosy. The entrance takes you into the larger main bar area, which has the servery to the right and very little in the way of furniture, with a few bar stools along the front wall, but not much else by way of seating. A couple of locals were in here when I arrived, chatting to the colourful landlady, but I moved through to the second room, behind the bar. There’s a small step in the corridor that connects the two rooms, which I couldn’t see due to a lack of lighting in the passage, so I slopped a good amount of my pint on the floor to my embarrassment. Once safely in the back room, I found a pleasant carpeted space with hard pew seating around the perimeter plus a few low stools in support. Leaded windows and dark wood ceiling beams in both rooms add a good deal of character, although in the back room, a Halloween effigy had been hung from one of the beams, which was a bit gruesome. Decor throughout is fairly simple, with a few animal themed paintings here and there, plenty of promotional posters and a few plain mirrors doing their best to fill the wall space.
Four handpulls offered the choice of Bexley Old Mill and Own Beer plus Wantsum Black Prince. I took a pint of the latter for £4.20, and found it in excellent condition. Despite sitting in the back room, I could still hear the chat between the landlady and her customers, which was pretty entertaining, to say the least.
This is a strange little place with a nice two room layout, uncomfortable seating, an interesting host and some good beer all making for a bit of a mixed visit. The plus points certainly outweigh the negatives and whilst there are undoubtedly better pubs in Maidstone, this is still worth making a bit of effort to check out.
On 21st December 2022
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3005 recommendations about 3005 pubs]
View more reviews of Thirsty Pig (6)
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- Official site of Ye Olde Thirsty Pig - thethirstypig.co.uk
- Twitter - Thirsty Pig
- CAMRA WhatPub :: Thirsty Pig - whatpub.com
Maidstone East, 0.65 miles, 12 min walk (show)
Maidstone Barracks, 0.88 miles, 16 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 05 February 2017 by ROB Camra
- Bar Billiards : No last updated 21 December 2022 by Pub SignMan
- Beer Festivals : No last updated 05 February 2017 by ROB Camra
- Beer Garden : Yes - Covered courtyard - last updated 05 February 2017 by ROB Camra
- CAMRA Discount : Yes - 10p per pint - last updated 05 February 2017 by ROB Camra
- Car Park : No last updated 05 February 2017 by ROB Camra
- Darts : Yes last updated 05 February 2017 by ROB Camra
- Dog Friendly : No last updated 05 February 2017 by ROB Camra
- Function Room : Yes last updated 21 December 2022 by Pub SignMan
- Hot Food : No last updated 21 December 2022 by Pub SignMan
- Karaoke : Yes - Last Thursday of the month - last updated 05 February 2017 by ROB Camra
- Live Music : No last updated 05 February 2017 by ROB Camra
- Live TV Sports : No last updated 05 February 2017 by ROB Camra
- Micropub : No last updated 05 February 2017 by ROB Camra
- Pinball : No last updated 21 December 2022 by Pub SignMan
- Real Ale : Yes last updated 05 February 2017 by ROB Camra
- Real Cider : Yes last updated 05 February 2017 by ROB Camra
- WiFi : Yes last updated 05 February 2017 by ROB Camra
