Curry night at the Nelson

I realise Tonbridge’s Nelson Arms has featured quite regularly on this blog, but that’s because it’s a good pub and a success story as well. It’s another example of a pub coming back from the dead, after being written off by the owning brewery or pub company, but once in the right hands, it’s thriving.

I found myself  back in the Nelson last Thursday evening, as my local CAMRA branch was making a presentation to the landlord. But there was also another, more compelling reason to tempt me in, and that was Thursday night “Curry Night,” and I wanted to give one of the pub’s famous curries a try.

Now it might seem a little strange for a back-street local to be serving food in the evenings, but the Nelson is just that bit further away from the town centre, to make it not quite in the thick of it when it comes to pub crawls and circuit drinking.

So in order to drum up additional trade, the pub offers hot meals from 4pm onwards, mid-week and from midday through to mid-evening time, at weekends. As well as a selection of curries on Thursdays, Tuesday is “Pie Night;” and they’re proper pies at that, if you know what I mean.  The Nelson has also made quite a name for itself with its Sunday lunchtime, roast dinners.

Knowing that the CAMRA presentation would take place at 9pm, I arrived at the pub at around 7.30pm.  This would allow ample time for a meal, plus a few beers before the start of the official business.

A friend joined me for dinner, which allowed us both to take advantage of the two curries for £15 offer, (normal price £10 each). We both opted for the Keema Lamb Mince, which came with Pilau rice, plus a couple of large poppadums each. The lamb was nicely spiced without being over-powering, so in view of this, I’m tempted to give some of the pub’s other curries a try – see photo opposite for details.

As usual, there was an interesting range of beers on sale, with offerings from Gun Brewery, Goacher’s, Kent Brewery, Titsey Brewing and Young’s. I started with Goacher’s Real Mild  3.0 NBSS, before moving on to Scaramanga Extra Pale from Gun Brewery and then Elysium New England IPA from Kent Brewery. I scored both the last two beers at 3.5 NBSS.

There was a good turnout, with around a dozen local CAMRA members coming along to show their support. The presentation was for Runner-up Cider Pub of the Year. 

Biddenden, Chiddingstone and Double Vision are amongst the ciders stocked by the Nelson, and whilst I’m obviously pleased for the pub and devotees of fermented apple juice, I have to confess my interest in cider is pretty minimal.

I suppose I should be pleased that the aforementioned ciders are traditional in nature and from local producers, but my view is that CAMRA should stick to promoting beer, and leave cider drinkers to start their own organisation. We’ve been through this before, and it’s not going to happen, but I wanted to say it all the same.

So overall, it was a very good evening, with the chance to catch up with some old friends and acquaintances, as well as enjoying some good beer and equally good, Asian-inspired cooking. The only downside was an early start the following morning, but at least it was Friday!