Rifle Volunteers for Pub Friday

Just over a year ago I came up with the idea of “Pub Friday.” This was a list of pubs I could visit conveniently on a Friday, a day free of both work and domestic commitments, when I’ve got the whole day free to do as I please. The pubs on my list are those in relatively hard to get places with the main proviso being they’re reachable using public transport. In the main the journeys to and from these places would be by bus, making full use of the free travel afforded by my Senior Citizens Bus Pass, although for some of the longer journeys I will travel by train. Finally, for a handful pubs on the list, a combination of both modes of transport would be used.

My Pub Friday list wasn't a New Year's resolution or anything like that, although it might well have been, because I'm sorry to say that I only managed to visit two pubs on the list, and these were right at the start of the year. It’s almost as if l lost momentum, before getting going, although it's hard to pinpoint exactly what went wrong. Things obviously got in the way of my plans, perhaps even conspiring against them, but until the other day, the Fordwich Arms, and the George & Dragon, both in the tiny town of Fordwich, a few miles to the north of Canterbury, were the only ones crossed off my list.

So, on Friday, seeing as Mrs PBT's had decided to go into hibernation, I grabbed the bull by the horns, wrapped myself up against the cold, and headed down to the bus stop that serves Tonbridge station, and waited for the No. 7 bus to turn up. This particular service operates the route between Tunbridge Wells and Maidstone, and the latter town was my destination that day.  My plan was to visit the unspoiled Rifle Volunteers, a stone built, back street local, close to the former Ophthalmic & Aural Hospital, now long demolished, and replaced by housing. I mention the hospital, because of the unpleasant memories it invokes, as it was there that I had my wisdom teeth extracted, a procedure that involved two separate appointments, one for each side of my mouth.

Understandably, I still shudder at the memory, and it is not an experience I would wish to repeat. Fortunately, I don’t have to and leaving such horrors firmly in the past, I waited for the 12.07 service to turn up. There is something both smug and satisfying just tapping my pass on the card reader and boarding the bus, completely free of charge. I headed up to the top deck and sat down to enjoy the 50-minute ride to Kent’s county town. Ever since I was a kid, I've always enjoyed sitting on the upper deck of a bus, not just for the enhanced view but also for the ability of seeing straight into people's gardens, and even beyond. Invariably it creates a better
understanding of what’s there, including lanes and side roads I wasn’t aware of. It also helps put each settlement into perspective in relation to the surrounding topography and countryside.

The bus follows the route of the A26 between Tonbridge and Maidstone, passing through on the way, the large villages of Hadlow, and Wateringbury. The former is home to a famous agricultural college which, I gather, is now being expanded. The latter settlement which as well as continuing a large number of attractive Victorian houses, was also home to two large breweries. Both have now vanished, almost completely, but whilst the premises Jude Hanbury & Co, which stood on the crossroads on the edge of the village, disappeared 90 or so years ago, buildings of the other concern, Frederick Leney & Son’s, lasted until the early 1990’s. Photo - Courtesy of Wateringbury Remembered

Leney’s Phoenix Brewery, an impressive red brick, tower construction, stood in Bow Road, in sight of the River Medway. As with Jude Hanbury, Leney’s had been part of the Whitbread group since the 1920s, although in the latter case, brewing continued there until the mid-1980s. Towards the end of its life, the Wateringbury plant produced bottled beers for Whitbread, primarily Pale Ale and Gold Label Barley Wine. After closure, the brewery building were demolished, and the extensive plot of land was used for a new housing development. There’s a family connection here, as for several years, the younger of my two sisters lived in one of the houses there. Despite its detached status, you could stand on her back doorstep and almost touch the wall of the next property along, across the fence.

In between Hadlow and Wateringbury, is the village of Mereworth, a settlement thankfully off both A26 and the adjoining A228. I mention this as the village is the place to leave the bus and walk the mile and a half to the tiny village of West Peckham and it's delightful pub, the Swan on the Green. Unfortunately, some changes are afoot in relation to this pub, not all of them good although with luck they herald a move which should ensure the pub's survival. More about this in a later blog.

I digress, and shortly before 1:00 pm the bus arrived in Maidstone, and I alighted at the bottom of the High Street, ready to make my way towards the Rifle Volunteers. On the way I stopped to take a few photos, including one of a pub which is now called The Stag, but one I remember as a lovely old hostelry, called the Sun, belonging to Fremlin’s brewery. Moving on, I headed through the enlarged Royal Star Arcade, an up-market shopping development which, as its name suggests, is an area once occupied by the former, Royal Star Hotel. The attractions here, include the Skull Bar & Grill, and just outside in the colonnaded Corn Exchange buildings, behind the Hazlitt Theatre, the Maidstone Distillery. Stop off here for your fix of local craft gin!

I then head up along Earl Street, towards Maidstone’s main shopping thoroughfare, Week Street, before navigating my way towards the Rifle Volunteers, the first of the two pubs on my Pub Friday list, I’ve known this thriving street corner local since the time at the start of the 1980’s, when I lived in the county town for five years. Back then, the pub was owned by Shepherd Neame, who at the time owned nine public houses in the town centre and it's immediate surrounds. As I discovered on Friday, at least half of those pubs have ceased trading for one reason or another, and Shep's now only have a handful of houses in Maidstone.

Fortunately, the Rifle Volunteers didn't suffer the same fate, and in 1997 was acquired by local brewers, Goacher’s. It represented their second pub in the town, and longstanding licensee couple, Alan, and Wendy, stayed on to run it on behalf of the new owners, before eventually stepping down in 2018. As far as I recall, my last visit to the Rifle Volunteers took place in 2010, when I met up with Norwich-based blogger, Paul Garrard, host, and writer of the now sadly defunct Real Ale Blog. Paul and his wife were staying over in Maidstone for a couple of days and after suggesting we meet up, decided that the Rifle Volunteers ticked all the right boxes.

You can read about that meeting here, but without giving too much away, apart from there being a new couple running the pub, little had changed. The attractive ragstone exterior remains the same, showcasing what is an attractive street corner local at its best. I stepped inside and was pleased to notice the place was quite full, with the majority of tables and chairs to the right of the serving area occupied. Perching proudly on the bar counter were four hand pumps, all dispensing Goacher’s beers and these were Real Mild, Fine Light, Imperial Stout, and Gold Star.

Last year, saw Goacher’s celebrating their 40^th anniversary, and a note marking this event features quite prominently on the pump clips. I kicked off with a pint of Fine Light, which was in excellent form and seemingly being drunk by nearly everyone in the pub. I managed to find a small table adjacent to the door, where I could sit and watch the proceedings taking place in the pub before me. There was plenty of banter flying around, and many of the customers were obviously regulars, who knew one another. One of them was heard to remark, that the majority of customers were of pensionable age, something I could see for myself but wasn't going to mention.

The age and type of customer was reflected in the choice of beers available, with plenty of cask being poured, and little or no draught lager. in fact, I don't even know whether or not the pub sells the stuff. Cooked food seemed to be available, but it was relatively low key, and I’ve a feeling it might have needed to be ordered in advance. However, I knew from the entry on WhatPub that filled rolls were available at the Rifle, so I ordered myself a cheese roll served up with a few crisps. This was just right for me at lunchtime, particularly after the excesses of the Christmas and New Year celebrations.

I moved on from the Fine Light to the Imperial Stout, recording it on Untappd as a "tasty, dry, Irish style stout, with plenty of roast malt and balancing hop flavours." Although it doesn’t say directly on their website, I get the feeling that Goacher’s were trying to match this particular beer with the most famous stout of all, namely Guinness. It was whilst sitting there that the idea or visiting another Maidstone pub on my list popped up in my consciousness. The pub in question is situated on the other side of the river Medway, opposite Maidstone West station, and I've been wanting to visit this establishment for some time. Its limited opening hours of 4:00 pm were one reason for not having finished visited before, but as I’ve waffled on long enough already, you’ll have to wait until next time to discover its name and read more about it.