A brief walkabout around sunny Tonbridge

The end of last week started with a spot of car trouble, but more about that another time.  Perhaps I’m being paranoid, but it does seem like something goes wrong every time we return from a trip away.  This aside, Mrs PBT’s and I ended up missing our regular Saturday morning drive over to Tesco, at Riverhead. It didn’t really matter, as we’d stopped off on Tuesday, at a massive Tesco store near Emsworth, on our drive back from Southampton, so we were pretty well stocked, provision-wise, as it happened.

With the shopping trip cancelled, the opportunity for a pub visit was already running through my mind, when Mrs PBT's informed me there was a parcel of hers awaiting collection down at M&S.  She suggested I could pick it up on my way back from Fuggles. How did you know I was planning to go to Fuggles? I replied. Call it feminine intuition, was her response. As it happens, I needed to call in at the building society, plus one or two other places in Tonbridge, and had planned to stop off in Tonbridge for a beer. If I'm honest it wasn't necessarily Fuggles that I’d be heading for, but it remained a distinct possibility.

So, with the sun shining and not a cloud in the sky I set off on a short walk down into the centre of Tonbridge. I called in at the Nationwide, pleased to see that one financial outlet, at least, still remains open in the town. Now the news is that Tonbridge will soon be getting its own banking hub. This is great news for all those local people who have campaigned for such a facility in the town. Tonbridge was bustling with shoppers, all enjoying the most welcome sunshine. After withdrawing some cash at the building society, I turned off from the High Street towards Town Lock and the path along the river Medway. The towpath is well-trodden, and is one I know well from my first years of working in Tonbridge.

I lived in Maidstone at the time and not having a vehicle at my disposal, travelled into Tonbridge by train. A walk along the High Street and then a right turn into Medway Wharf Road, took me to Town Lock and from there, the path along the riverbank meant that in 25 minutes or so, I could be at my desk ready to start work. Much of the riverside area has now been developed, with rows of tall, brick-built apartments lining the nearest of the two banks, and some more pleasant looking, Scandinavian-style dwellings, with brightly coloured wooden facades on the opposite side.

The final piece of land, earmarked for development, is the site formerly occupied by two large, but obsolete gas holders. These were dismantled and removed last year, and newly cleared site is now awaiting redevelopment. The engineering company where I started my career in Tonbridge, is also gone with the 1960’s office block pulled down, and the older and more functional area at the rear also vanished. The latter was, at one time, home to the short-lived, Storey Motor Company one of the early pioneers in the field of car production. One of the new buildings, now occupying the site, is the Marks & Spencer food hall, and that is where I had to collect Eileen’s parcel from. Mission accomplished I headed back into Tonbridge, passing the site of the old Town Mill on my way.

I then turned off Bordyke and took a path leading past the Parish Church of St Peter & St Paul. Just a short distance away was the first of the two pubs I intended to visit. The Ivy House needs little introduction, as I have written about it on this blog, several times in the past. Housed in an attractive old tile-hung building which dates back to the 15^th Century, the Ivy House started life as a tollhouse. It was known as the Elephant & Castle until becoming the Ivy House, a name presumably acquired on account of the ivy which covered the building at one time.

Over time, it has undergone various changes and has developed into something of a gastropub. Despite this, it has been tastefully renovated without losing its essential character and remains a pleasant place to enjoy a pint or two. My last visit to the pub was for breakfast with Matthew, towards the end of last year, but it had been ages since I had a pint in the pub. 

Approaching the bar I noticed the pub’s two cask beers were Harvey’s Best plus Tonbridge Coppernob. Feeling slightly disappointed that Pilsener Urquell was no longer available (I’m not sure when that Czech classic was discontinued), I opted instead for a pint of Sussex Best, priced in excess of £6.00!  I took take my beer outside to recover from the shock, but mainly to take advantage of the unseasonably good and very welcome spring sunshine.

There were plenty of other customers also taking advantage of the weather, but I managed to find a little spot all to myself, tucked away in an almost unseen area behind the pub. I have to say the Harvey’s was in fine form and was worthy of a 4.5 NBSS, had I been scoring. I sat there contentedly enjoying excellent beer, enjoying the moment and generally just chilling out. Despite the excellent beer and pleasant setting, it was time to move on, so leaving the Ivy House I retraced my steps back through the churchyard, before turning right into East Street. 

There, roughly halfway down, on the right is the Man of Kent, a fine old weather boarded pub, of similar antiquity to the Ivy House, tucked away down a side street just off the town centre. This was the first Tonbridge pub that I set foot in, whilst on a reconnaissance trip, prior to starting my new job in the town. The Man of Kent belonged to Charrington’s at the time and as well as stocking Charrington IPA, also served a very acceptable pint of Draught Bass. 

It wasn’t long after starting in my new position that I started calling in to the Man of Kent for a lunchtime pint, normally on a Friday and sometimes accompanied by one of my new colleagues. The pub was a real classic, old-fashioned town local, that I visited whenever I could, especially when I moved to Tonbridge, five years later. Things have obviously changed over the past four decades, and the pub trade has been altered out of all recognition. 

The introduction of the Beer Orders, at the beginning of the 1990’s, led to the selling off of many pubs belonging to the so-called “Big Six” brewers in the UK. This piece of legislation was supposed to free-up the market, by encouraging competition, and whilst full of good intentions, was badly thought out. 

Without going over too much old ground, the end result saw the Big Six brewers, being replaced by a number of equally large pub-owning companies – the so-called Pub Co’s. If anything, these organisations were far worse than the brewers they replaced. The Man of Kent was one of many pubs sold off as a result of the Beer Orders, although today it is owned by a small local company called Pendry Inns. Somewhere along the line, the partition between the Public and Saloon bars was removed, along with the Draught Bass. Fortunately, it was substituted with Harvey’s Best.

The latter was one of two cask beers on sale last Saturday, the other being St Austell Tribute. I opted for the latter, because of its rarity value, but it wasn’t exactly at its best. There was a dozen or so punters in the bar, all glued to the TV where some football game or other was taking place. Perhaps sensing my disquiet, or possibly just because he wanted to get rid of me, the landlord asked if I wanted to take my beer out to the garden. Situated at the rear, it seemed a good idea, until I discovered that the commentary was being relayed out there as well. Talk about no escape! The other issue was that the courtyard garden is surrounded by private houses on three sides, so I’m not sure how they feel about having to put up with some latter-day David Coleman disturbing the King’s Peace.

It was time to go, but despite commentary from the so-called “beautiful game” being blasted into my ears, I’m still pleased that I gave the Man of Kent a try, if only for old time’s sake. Given that most of the customers were there for the football, I feel correct in assuming that the pub remains very much a locals’ pub, so who am I to criticize it? The Ivy House, on the other hand, caters for a more transitory crowd, as well as those who enjoy “posh nosh”, and that, in a nutshell, if you’ll excuse the pun, is the Great British pub in a nutshell, as we move into the next quarter of the 21^st century.