Continuing with my theme of
Friday pub outings, I decided to
visit a pub that I remembered, from when I lived in
Maidstone. This would have
been from the
late 1970s to the
mid-1980s. The pub in question is the
Little Gem
in the village of
Aylesford. As its name might suggest the
Gem, is a smallish establishment,
which at one time, was reputed to be the smallest pub in
England.
I first became familiar with the
Little Gem in the
late
1970s, when I moved to
Maidstone, from
London, when I bought my first house. Not
long after moving in, I made contact with the local
CAMRA branch, and began
going along to their social meetings. They were obviously short of volunteers,
because within the space of a year, I was co-opted onto the branch committee
and began playing a more active role within the organisation.
Now for some reason, several prominent members of the
committee had rather a downer on the Little Gem, with some even accusing it of
being a “beer exhibition” pub. By that, they meant the pub was stocking far too
many cask ales, certainly in relation to its size, and there was a danger of
then being unable to turn them all over, thereby compromising quality. I
understand this argument far better today, than I did nearly 40 years ago, but
it did mean that the Gem never reached the heady heights of appearing in the
Good Beer Guide, and received precious little support from CAMRA.
I don’t think the management of the
Little Gem were that bothered, as it
continued to remain popular with its own band of devotees., and six years after
joining the committee of
Maidstone & mid-Kent CAMRA, I severed my official
links to the branch, when I moved to
Tonbridge. I kept in touch with several
members, on a personal basis, as they had become good friends, but over time I
became less and less familiar with the pub scene, in and around the country
town.
This meant I was completely unaware the Little Gem had closed
its doors for the last time, back in 2010, and to this day remain ignorant of
the reason for its closure. Time though, marched steadily on, and the next
decade the Gem remained empty, unloved, and uncared for. I discovered this for
myself, in 2016, when I dropped my car off for a major service, at main Skoda
dealer on the Quarry Wood Estate, just off the A20.
Whilst the work was being carried out on my vehicle, I took
a walk into nearby Aylesford, for a look around, and also to kill some time. I
was also looking for a tearoom where I could grab some non-alcoholic
refreshment, and it was then that I walked past the Little Gem. The doors and
windows were all boarded up, and the place looked all sad and neglected (see above). I did
a some digging, when I got home, and discovered that the building’s owner, who
did not live locally, had applied to the local authority for change of use to a
private dwelling. There was also an asking price of £230,000 on the building,
as it stood.
Several months’ later, I was heartened to come across a
Facebook
campaign, called
"Saving the Little Gem." Over the course of the following years,
I kept an eye on the group, which had 900 followers at the time. Then, just
when progress seemed to have ground to a halt, the
Gem was bought at auction,
in
2019. Even better was the news that owner had been granted permission, from
the local authority, for the building to be turned back into a pub. A year down
the line, and with no signs of work being done, the building once again changes
hands, and this time it was bought by local brewers,
Goacher’s, who are based at
Tovil, just outside
Maidstone.
With a substantial amount of renovation work to be carried
out, to restore this 12th Century pub in keeping with its Grade II
listed status. The Little Gem finally reopened for trading 18 months or so ago,
and after reading some good reports, but also with my own fond memories of the
place in mind, a visit was long overdue. So, last Friday, I finally got round
to ticking this aptly name “gem" off from my “must visit” list.
Although I have a bus pass, it was far easier to take the
train to
Aylesford, as there is a direct service from
Paddock Wood (one stop
away from
Tonbridge). The train travels up along the picturesque
Medway Valley Line,
which follows the course of Kent’s largest river. I arrived at
Aylesford
station shortly after midday, and from there it was a 20-minute walk into
Aylesford
village. I experienced a short wait at the level crossing, before making my way
across the ancient stone bridge, which fortunately is no longer used by traffic.
Before turning right into the village, I paused briefly to look at the
George –
a former coaching inn which closed during the
1970s. I read recently that when the pub
closed, its licence was passed to the
Little Gem which, at the time, had been a
tea room.
It wasn’t far from there to the
Gem, and once inside, it was
heart warming to see the pub restored to its former glory. The building dates
from
1106 and has plenty of the exposed beams and low ceilings, one would
expect from an early
12th Century constriction. A step down into the
pub, through a low doorway, leads directly into the main room and bar, situated
on the ground floor. A large inglenook fireplace, adjacent to the entrance,
provides a warm welcome in winter, although the fire was struggling to provide
much in the way of heat, when I called in.
Upstairs there is a split-level balcony room, on a mezzanine
floor, overlooking the ground floor bar. Although small, this upper seating
area makes a good addition to the main bar area below. The bar counter is sited
to the left of the fireplace, where cask ale is dispensed from two hand-pumps on
the bar counter, and from two or three chilled casks on gravity dispense on the
bar back shelf. The
Little Gem represents the third tied house for
Goacher's and
serves a good selection of the company’s beers.
I started off with an excellent pint of
Fine Light, followed by an
equally acceptable pint of the brewery’s
Old Ale. At
6.7 % abv, this rich, dark,
and warming strong ale was a full three percentage points stronger than the
Light, but in view of the weather, was just the thing.
There were just a handful of drinkers when I arrived, but it
didn’t take long for the bar to fill up. The majority of customers were middle
aged, but not exclusively male, and there were a number of canine companions in
attendance as well. The seasoned barmaid took it all in her stride and manged
to find time to answer some of my questions, along with listening to me
enthusing about how well the pub had been restored, and how little it has
changed.
The only criticism I would make was the temperature inside
the place. On a freezing cold day, the open fire was always going to struggle
to keep the pub warm, and whilst I did spot a radiator in the corner, I can
understand why the management were reluctant to use the central heating.
Putting my coat back on was sufficient to ward off the cold, and the purchase
of one of the Gem’s homemade sausage rolls, also helped warm up the inner man.
I could have stayed for a third pint, but with the
Old Ale almost
equivalent to two pints of
Fine Light, I allowed discretion be the better part
of valour. I only just made it back to the station in time, as the level
crossing barrier was once again closed. Fortunately, luck was on my side for
once, and my train was running a few minutes behind schedule. I still haven’t
worked out quite why the Victorian engineers, who constructed the
Medway Valley
Line, sited the station so far outside
Aylesford itself, but there are plenty
of other examples of this, throughout the south east.
Despite this conundrum, I’d managed to experience a pub that
had been brought back from the dead, and enjoyed a brisk walk, both ways, in
the process.
This meant I was completely unaware the Little Gem had closed
its doors for the last time, back in 2010, and to this day remain ignorant of
the reason for its closure. Time though, marched steadily on, and the next
decade the Gem remained empty, unloved, and uncared for. I discovered this for
myself, in 2016, when I dropped my car off for a major service, at main Skoda
dealer on the Quarry Wood Estate, just off the A20. 
