Confederacy of a Dunce - Pembury Tavern

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

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Last night we decided to set out for parts unknown, in order to pay a visit to the very recently opened Pembury Tavern. Publicity for the Pembury is very limited at the moment: of the 63 main results of a Google search, only a single one (from beerintheevening) actually indicates that the Pembury is actually open for business. Even the small pubco running the show seem to be keeping it secret; their website only says "The Pembury Tavern is not yet open; we hope to open in September 2005." (some construction photos are cleverly hidden here). Nonetheless, we decided to pay it a visit on the strength of the promised "up to 16 real ales", as well as its accessibility from our home (short [free] train ride, or not-so-long bus ride, both essentially door-to-door). It's been closed for some time, and the upper floors have been converted into flats. First impressions were that it didn't look so much like a pub from the outside; frosted windows did read "Pembury Tavern", but the doors looked very un-pub-like. The side doors were also locked; perhaps making it unclear to unknowing passersby that the pub was actually open for business. Inside, it's absolutely huge, and its size was further magnified by the light-colored walls, overly-bright lights, and lack of customers (only one small group was there when we arrived, and there were never more than 10 customers at any time, including the 3 or 4 at our table). It's furnished with (giant) wood-top tables and your typical collection of chairs varying in shape and size. It was also incredibly quiet (not only because of the few customers, but also there was no music, no TV, at times no sound whatsoever). It's also non-smoking throughout, which meant a NYC-style temporary exit for certain members of our party at regular intervals.

As promised, however, the beer selection was impressive. I believe all 16 handpumps were in service, each dispensing a different real ale product. An assortment from the Milton brewery (including my favorite, Sparta), but also a goodly number from other brewers. One real cider on hand (Weston's Old Rosie, I believe, but I didn't taste it as I prefer a dry cider). Budvar is also available for those who absolutely require a lager fix, and there were an assortment of bottled products I didn't inspect at all. We stayed until the call of "last orders" (which actually wasn't much of a call, but more of a mutter as we were the only remaining customers), then hopped on the bus for home.¹. It was a very enjoyable evening even though the pub was empty, and I'm sure we'll be back in the future for more. I just hope there is a little more publicity in the very near future.

¹The bus ride home was very odd. Mainly because of the antics of the driver. Most notably, for the last few stops before our exit, he was engaged in a spirited arm-wrestling match with a very young girl (who had her arm through the cash window). He was at a disavantage because he was arm-wrestling left-handed, but also because he was trying to drive the bus at the same time. I was quite happy (and somewhat surprised) when we managed to get off the bus without incident.

consume

Wednesday, January 11, 2006 2:35:13 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)