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<\/a><\/div>\nThe end of last week started with a spot of car trouble, but more about that another time.\u00a0 <\/span>Perhaps I\u2019m being paranoid, but it does seem With the shopping trip cancelled, the opportunity for a pub So, with the sun shining and not a cloud in the sky I set I lived in Maidstone<\/b> at The final piece of land, earmarked for development, is the I then turned off Bordyke<\/b> and took a path leading past the Over time, it has undergone various changes and has Approaching the bar I noticed the pub\u2019s two cask beers were Harvey\u2019s Best<\/b> plus There were plenty of other customers also taking advantage There, roughly halfway down, It wasn\u2019t long after The introduction of Without going over too
\nlike something goes wrong every time we return from a trip away. \u00a0<\/span>This aside, Mrs PBT\u2019s<\/b> and I ended up missing our
\nregular Saturday<\/b> morning drive over to Tesco,<\/b> at Riverhead. <\/b>It didn\u2019t really
\nmatter, as we\u2019d stopped off on Tuesday<\/b>, at a massive Tesco <\/b>store near Emsworth,
\n<\/b>on our drive back from Southampton,<\/b> so we were pretty well stocked,
\nprovision-wise, as it happened.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nvisit was already running through my mind, when Mrs PBT’s<\/b> informed me there was
\na parcel of hers awaiting collection down at M&S<\/b>. \u00a0<\/span>She suggested I could pick it up on my way
\nback from Fuggles.<\/b> How did you know I was planning to go to Fuggles? <\/b>I replied.
\nCall it feminine intuition, was her response. As it happens, I needed to call
\nin at the building society, plus one or two other places in Tonbridge<\/b>, and had planned
\nto stop off in Tonbridge<\/b> for a beer. If I’m honest it wasn’t necessarily
\nFuggles<\/b> that I\u2019d be heading for, but it remained a distinct possibility.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\noff on a short walk down into the centre of Tonbridge.<\/b> I called in at the Nationwide<\/b>,
\npleased to see that one financial outlet, at least, still remains open in the
\ntown. Now the news is that Tonbridge<\/b> will soon be getting its own banking hub.
\n<\/b>This is great news for all those local people who have campaigned for such a
\nfacility in the town. Tonbridge <\/b>was bustling with shoppers, all enjoying the
\nmost welcome sunshine. After withdrawing some cash at the building society, I
\nturned off from the High Street <\/b>towards Town Lock<\/b> and the path along the river
\nMedway.<\/b> The towpath is well-trodden, and is one I know well from my first years
\nof working in Tonbridge.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nthe time and not having a vehicle at my disposal, travelled into Tonbridge <\/b>by
\ntrain. A walk along the High Street<\/b> and then a right turn into Medway Wharf
\nRoad<\/b>, took me to Town Lock<\/b> and from there, the path along the riverbank meant
\nthat in 25 minutes or so, I could be at my desk ready to start work. Much of
\nthe riverside area has now been developed, with rows of tall, brick-built
\napartments lining the nearest of the two banks, and some more pleasant looking,
\nScandinavian-style<\/b> dwellings, with brightly coloured wooden facades on the opposite
\nside.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nsite formerly occupied by two large, but obsolete gas holders.<\/b> These were dismantled and removed last year, and newly cleared site is now awaiting redevelopment. The
\nengineering company where I started my career in Tonbridg<\/b>e, is also gone with
\nthe 1960\u2019s<\/b> office block pulled down, and the older and more functional area at
\nthe rear also vanished. The latter was, at one time, home to the short-lived,
\nStorey Motor Company<\/b> one of the early pioneers in the field of car production. One
\nof the new buildings, now occupying the site, is the Marks & Spencer<\/b> food
\nhall, and that is where I had to collect Eileen\u2019s<\/b> parcel from. Mission
\naccomplished I headed back into Tonbridge<\/b>, passing the site of the old Town Mill
\n<\/b>on my way.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nParish Church<\/b> of St Peter & St Paul.<\/b> Just a short distance away was the
\nfirst of the two pubs I intended to visit. The Ivy House<\/a><\/u><\/b> needs little
\nintroduction, as I have written about it on this blog, several times in the
\npast. Housed in an attractive old tile-hung
\nbuilding which dates back to the 15th<\/sup> Century<\/b>, the Ivy House<\/b> started
\nlife as a tollhouse. It was known as the Elephant & Castle<\/b> until becoming the
\nIvy House<\/b>, a name presumably acquired on account of the ivy which covered the
\nbuilding at one time.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\ndeveloped into something of a gastropub. Despite this, it has been tastefully
\nrenovated without losing its essential character and remains a pleasant place
\nto enjoy a pint or two. My last visit to the pub was for breakfast with Matthew<\/b>,
\ntowards the end of last year, but it had been ages since I had a pint in the
\npub.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nTonbridge Coppernob.<\/b> Feeling slightly disappointed that Pilsener Urquell<\/b> was no
\nlonger available (I\u2019m not sure when that Czech<\/b> classic was discontinued), I
\nopted instead for a pint of Sussex Best, <\/b>priced in excess of \u00a36.00!<\/b>\u00a0 I took take my beer outside to recover from the
\nshock, but mainly to take advantage of the unseasonably good and very welcome
\nspring sunshine.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nof the weather, but I managed to find a little spot all to myself, tucked away
\nin an almost unseen area behind the pub. I have to say the Harvey\u2019s <\/b>was in fine
\nform and was worthy of a 4.5 NBSS,<\/b> had I been scoring. I sat there contentedly
\nenjoying excellent beer, enjoying the moment and generally just chilling out. Despite the excellent beer and pleasant setting, it was time
\nto move on, so leaving the Ivy House<\/b> I retraced my steps back through the
\nchurchyard, before turning right into East Street.<\/b>\u00a0<\/p>\n
\non the right is the Man of Kent<\/b>, a fine old weather boarded pub, of similar
\nantiquity to the Ivy House,<\/b> tucked away down a side street just off the town
\ncentre. This was the first Tonbridge<\/b> pub that I set foot in, whilst
\non a reconnaissance trip, prior to starting my new job in the town. The Man of
\nKent<\/b> belonged to Charrington\u2019s<\/b> at the time and as well as stocking Charrington IPA,<\/b>
\nalso served a very acceptable pint of Draught Bass.<\/b>\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nstarting in my new position that I started calling in to the Man of Kent<\/b> for a
\nlunchtime pint, normally on a Friday <\/b>and sometimes accompanied by one of my new
\ncolleagues. The pub was a real classic, old-fashioned town local, that I visited
\nwhenever I could, especially when I moved to Tonbridge,<\/b> five years later. Things have obviously changed over the past four decades,
\nand the pub trade has been altered out of all recognition.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nthe Beer Orders<\/b>, at the beginning of the 1990\u2019s,<\/b> led to the selling off of many
\npubs belonging to the so-called \u201cBig Six\u201d<\/i><\/b> brewers in the UK.<\/b> This piece of
\nlegislation was supposed to free-up the market, by encouraging competition, and
\nwhilst full of good intentions, was badly thought out.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nmuch old ground, the end result saw the Big Six<\/b> brewers, being replaced by a
\nnumber of equally large pub-owning companies \u2013 the so-called Pub Co\u2019s.<\/b> If
\nanything, these organisations were far worse than the brewers they replaced.
\nThe Man of Kent<\/b> was one of many pubs sold off as a result of the Beer Orders,<\/b>
\nalthough today it is owned by a small local company called Pendry Inns<\/b>. Somewhere
\nalong the line, the partition between the Public<\/b> and Saloon<\/b> bars was removed, along
\nwith the Draught Bass.<\/b> Fortunately, it was substituted with Harvey\u2019s Best.<\/b> <\/p>\n