![](\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEgIhJCticrKeCddAPpHt4lnr5BbcOlIqhWfdxVo-37H-o_D5m_KtL0Wf8Yjri63v_-ictNgQE13lWVPKWlybW-IFhg83J2fm5Xj0MFqW5lk-Mi050hX22frzjbinCJ8MJmcpIqUrmZg0oHQvhv-DTn7CPr9-qujqsVeL3iHVHNXV16ZkHeQ2VVXsOxi6l4\/s3551\/Railway%20Water%20breakfast.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>\nContinuing our search for the perfect breakfast venue, a search There\u2019s a fair amount of brewing history associated with Wateringbury,<\/b> Whitbread <\/b>acquired the business as well as Production at the Phoenix Brewery,<\/b> was then switched to Following closure, \u00a0<\/b>There\u2019s In common with many other towns and villages, Wateringbury<\/b> would From memory, I\u2019d only made one previous visit to the Railway,<\/b> He discovered that on Saturday<\/b> mornings, the Railway<\/b> offers After walking into the pub, we informed the lady behind the All in all, a good choice of traditional breakfast
\nthat is primary being driven and organised my son Matthew, Easter Saturday <\/b>saw the
\npair of us drive over to the village of Wateringbury.<\/b> Situated roughly
\ntwo-thirds of the distance between Tonbridge <\/b>and Maidstone, Wateringbury<\/b> has a
\nVictorian<\/b> feel to it, as characterised by the many buildings from that era, but
\nthe village is considerably older than that and can trace its history back to
\nthe time of the Domesday Book.<\/b> It is quite a large settlement, with the lower half
\nof the village, running down to the river Medway,<\/b> and the top part extending up
\nto the A26 Tonbridge-Maidstone<\/b> road. <\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nalthough nowadays, very little remains of this heritage. Yet, up until the mid-1980s,<\/b>
\nnational brewer Whitbread<\/b> had a substantial plant in the village, on a site overlooking
\nthe Medway.<\/b> This rather attractive, and typical 19th<\/sup> Century,<\/b> tower
\nbrewery, was known as the Phoenix Brewery<\/b>, and was home to Frederick Leney & Sons. <\/b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nthe site in 1927<\/b>, as part of their initial expansion from their London<\/b> home but
\nWateringbury<\/b> continued brewing Leney\u2019s<\/b> ales for local pubs, until 1961 <\/b>when the
\nlicensed premises were sold to Fremlin\u2019s<\/b> of Maidstone.<\/b> The latter company joined
\nthe Whitbread<\/b> group in 1967<\/b> and the day-to-day running of the Wateringbury<\/b>
\nbrewery was then integrated into their Maidstone<\/b> operation. Until fairly
\nrecently you could sometimes see the name of Frederick Leney<\/b> etched into the windows
\nof local pubs. The other Wateringbury<\/b> brewery was that of Jude,
\nHanbury & Co Ltd<\/b>, who moved to Canterbury<\/b> in 1924 <\/b>after acquiring the
\nbusiness of Ash & Co.<\/b> Their brewery in Bow Road,<\/b> was sold to the Yalding
\nSoap Co<\/b>. and was later demolished.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nbrewing mainly bottled beers for the Whitbread <\/b>group. Before its closure in
\n1984<\/b>, beers such as light ale, and Gold Label<\/b> barley wine were brewed at
\nWateringbury, <\/b>although it\u2019s interesting to note that this famed barley wine, started life as
\na Sheffield <\/b>beer. Developed originally by Tennant’s<\/b> in 1951,<\/b> it was a pale-coloured, sparkling barley wine of great
\nstrength,<\/span> containing around 10.6% <\/b>alcohol. Its golden colour was
\nunusual, because the vast majority of high strength beers tended to be on the
\ndark side, including Whitbread\u2019s <\/b>own Final Selection<\/b> barley wine. The latter
\nbrew was replaced by Gold Label,<\/b> which ended up being brewed elsewhere within
\nthe group, when Wateringbury<\/b> ceased production. I\u2019m assuming the beer is still
\navailable, although the advertising slogan used to sell <\/b>it, \u201cStrong as a double
\nScotch, less than half the price,\u201d <\/i><\/b>has long disappeared.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nthe attractive brewery buildings at Wateringbury<\/b> were pulled down, and all that
\nremains of this once thriving local enterprise is the Phoenix weather-vane <\/b>atop
\nof the nearby Wateringbury Hotel,<\/b> which although now owned by Greene King<\/b>, operates
\nunder the Chef & Brewer <\/b>banner along with the adjoining Premier Inn.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\na bit of family history here, because the youngest of my two sisters, bought
\none of the houses on the former Phoenix<\/b> site, and lived there for a while with
\nher family, during the mid-90\u2019s.<\/b> Of slightly more interest, as well as
\nrelevance, is the story that a friend and I hopped over the fence, one weekend,
\nwhilst demolition of the brewery was in its initial stages. Despite the fact we
\nwere trespassing, and that parts of the site were potentially unsafe, we had a good
\nlook around. My friend ended up with a World War II ARP,<\/b> steel helmet and I uncovered
\nan old wooden beer crate. As is often the case when enterprises are closed down,
\na lot of seemingly worthless objects are just abandoned. Potentially there
\nmight have items, such as brewing logs, which would have been of interest to
\nbrewery historians, although somehow apart from my friend\u2019s steel helmet, I
\ndon\u2019t think there was much else of value remaining on the site.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nat one time, have been well supplied with public houses, especially as it was a
\nsettlement with two thriving breweries. Sadly, nearly all of them have disappeared,
\neither having been converted either for residential use, or demolished
\naltogether. One such remaining survivor is the Railway,<\/b> a white-painted late\u00a019th<\/sup><\/b> Century<\/b> pub at the bottom of the hill, opposite Wateringbury station.<\/b>
\nThe pub is almost in the neighbouring village of Nettlestead<\/b>, but that\u2019s one
\nfor the pedants.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nand that was around 20 years ago, at the end of one of Maidstone CAMRA\u2019s<\/b>,
\nannual Good Friday rambles.<\/b> As is often the case over Easter<\/b>, that particular
\nGood Friday<\/b> was characterised by freezing cold conditions, and it might even
\nhave snowed. A friend and I dived into the Railway,<\/b> whilst waiting for our
\ntrain back to Tonbridge<\/b>, and whilst I remember precious little from that visit,
\nthe pub certainly provided a warm and very welcome respite from the Arctic
\nconditions outside. And there, the story might have ended, if Matthew<\/b> hadn\u2019t
\nnoticed a social media post about the Railway.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\na buffet breakfast, of the \u201call you can eat\u201d <\/i><\/b>variety. The reason for the
\nbreakfast offer taking place on a Saturday<\/b>, is because the Railway <\/b>majors on
\nroast dinners on Sundays<\/b> with a carvery that is very popular with the
\npunters.\u00a0 <\/span>Consequently, keeping the two
\nmeal occasions separate, makes a lot of sense for the pub management. Consequently,
\nthe pair of us pitched up just after 9am<\/b>, and after leaving the car in the free
\n(TMBC<\/b> please take note)<\/u> car park, at the top of the village, probably on the
\nsite of the former Jude Hanbury<\/b> brewery, we walked down to towards the river,
\nand the Railway<\/b> public house. <\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nbar that we\u2019d come to enjoy the breakfast offering, and after showing us to an
\nempty table in the dining area, we were asked how would we like our eggs
\ncooked. Eggs were the only things on the buffet menu that were cooked to order,
\nthe rest of the breakfast items being on a \u201chelp yourself\u201d<\/i><\/b> basis. A hot water
\nurn was available for teas and coffees, with the hot drinks also being self-service.
\nThere was a good selection of typical breakfast goodies, such as bacon (back
\ncuts, rather than streaky), sausages, tomatoes, beans, fried bread, hash browns
\netc, plus bread for toasting.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nfayre, and if you wanted to, you could return to the hot serving dishes, for
\nseconds. A number of other customers turned up whist we were there, and it was
\nobvious from the interaction between them and the staff, that they were
\nregulars. As for the breakfast itself, the cost worked out at a very reasonable,
\n\u00a39.50 <\/b>per head. If I\u2019m honest, there was a touch of the \u201cgreasy spoon\u201d<\/i><\/b> about
\nthe presentation, but in mitigation the bacon, eggs and sausages were good quality,
\nand definitely not your typical \u201ccash & carry\u201d<\/i><\/b> catering option. <\/p>\n