Shipwrights Arms, Favershamback to pub details please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Decent remote pub, seving Goachers ales from the cask. Take your bins and go for a walk, you will be amazed at what you can see.
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Great place to get "Shipwrecked", real ale brewed by Goachers. Friendly service, great food, easily reached from Faversham via saxon shore footpath. Very old building and haunted corner add to the atmosphere.
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A pub that is very much out of the way unless you have good walking legs or a car!
Being in the British Beer Guide made me trek here from town with my mode of transport being a taxi.
8 barrels behind the bar that were offering 5 beers direct from the barrel. 3 from Goachers, of which I had Shipwrecked and Gold Star. The beer was good.
This is a proper old fashioned pub that sells food which has previously been commented on.
A decent pub, is it worth the trek from town, that'll be your decision.
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Great place. Great selection of Ale's. 2 good gardens and lots of 'nooks' inside to sit in
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The Shipwright's Arms is a great pub I did an awful lot of growing up in. My love of this place be assured, is not through the rose tinted spectacles of hindsight. I am in the beer industry and feel qualified to say the beer at this pub is second to none. Others have reported the selection: Goachers, Hopdaemon and Whitstable Breweries, all served from gravity, always in perfect condition.
The food is simple but good, go for the homecooked ham, with egg and chips. Be aware, due to the size of the kitchen in the summer when very busy there can be a wait for food. Don't stress about it though, have another pint of Shipwrecked and get a cab home.....
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The Shipwright's arms is a good pub for beer ana a quiet pint. However on other factors it is a real let down. So firstly as others have mentioned the food!
The Food is hardly that impressive I wouldn't even consider it to be somthing to be fed in a school. I used to work at the shipwrights and all the food is microwaved or deep fried. Most dishes are bought in from brakes frozen ready cooked including pies, caseroles etc etc. And when needed placed in a microwave for five minutes. The same goes for most of the fish on the menu. Unfortunatly the land lady Ruth who runs the kitchen has NO relevent experience or qualifications in the catering business. She certainly has strange methods of preparing food e.g. deep frying roast potatoes (which are bought in frozen.) So most food served is inedible/ disgusting and unfortunatly customers are paying the same prices as top restaruants in the Faversham area for what is basically a microwaved meal.
However if i customer is unhappy with their meal, i.e. its still frozen they dare not complain since all they'll get in return is abuse from Derek and Ruth. They are the two ruedest people that I have ever had the misfortune for working for, Derek will swere and customers whilst Ruth will merely shout at them.
To conclude I wouldn't suggest bothering to drive out to the Shipwrights, the food is microwaved, yet you will pay for fresh and since ruth has no idea about running a kitchen there are many health hazzards including fish kept for a whole week until cooked, filthy appliances and even evidence that rats and mice are inhabbiting some of the kitchen areas !
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This place has some weird opening times so be careful when trekking down there. Shut at 5pm Saturday ??
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I agree what has already been said about the grumpy landlord although the rest of the staff are friendly. We had excellent pints of Goachers Mild and Goachers Shipwrecked Bitter today. Excellent pub with a log fire blazing away today. No canned music, just people chatting and enjoying their beer. Wonderful setting besides Oare Creek with the boatyard just opposite. They have a friendly Rottie called Lucy. We quite like the simple pub grub.
This should really be either in Hollowshore or Oare rather than Faversham.
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Splendid 17th Century, multi award winning, white-weatherboarded pub situated in a superb isolated location approx 2 miles from Faversham at the joining of Faversham and Oare Creeks. There's a boatyard virtually next door and one large house close by, but that's it.
The interior has lots of character - low beamed ceilings, lots of nooks and crannies and many nautical artefacts. There's also some photographs of the pub in days gone by. There's seats outside at the front of the pub and a large grassy garden at the back which is now closed for winter.
The pub can be reached from Faversham either via a series of country lanes, with helpful signs pointing you in the pub's direction, or via The Saxon Shore Way - a more scenic walking route through the surrounding marshlands. Don't bother making the trip on Monday though unless you want to find the pub closed!
As other people have commented, unfortunately you are greeted by a plethora of unfriendly signs as you approach the entrance, telling you what you can and can't do. In particular, one sign prominently displayed at the entrance says "we will not serve anyone who is or appears to be drunk" and "we will not accept bad language or abusive behaviour", which I have to say, I found rather dispiriting. After all, this is an isolated country pub, not some chav-infested Identikit High Street drinking barn. You need a vivid imagination to picture the Fri/Sat night vomit and violence brigade descending on the Shipwrights.
The landlord, derek, is, as other people have commented a bit odd. Not for the first time, my Saturday lunchtime visit drew a barely disguised frown as I entered the pub and my polite and respectful greeting was not reciprocated. His wife, Ruth, is not much difference, but in fairness other staff ( some of whom are family offspring I think ) are welcoming and friendly. He doesn't appear to be a big CAMRA fan either, although this hasn't prevented the 2010 GBG sticker being proudly displayed and the pub has been a regular entry in recent years.
Beers come straight from the barrel. Four beers were on - Shipwrecked, Dark Mild Ale, Incubus and East India Pale Ale. I originally wrongly thought all these were Goachers beers as each barrel had a Goachers bar towel on top, but, on peering closer at the barrels, I realised that Incubus came from Hopdaemon and East India Pale Ale from the Whitstable Brewery. Both the Goachers Dark Mild and the East India Pale Ale were superb pints, very tasty and in perfect condition.
On balance, I like this pub despite the criticisms and oddities outlined above. My recommendation would be to go if you get the chance, but just don't expect to get anything remotely resembling the red carpet treatment.
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Great location and very good beer. The food is really bog standard, and I wasn't that impressed with the landlord and his weird (not to be mistaken with 'quirky') signs, denouncing the current government. I'd rather not have the bloke that runs the place ram his politics down my throat when I'm having a pint.
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A classic pub in a remote location - you certainly have to make a real effort to get here but it is certainly worth it. If walking the Saxon Shore Way, it is a great place to stop for lunch (but note that it is closed on Mondays). Goachers and Whitstable real ales direct from the cask. Nice beer garden.
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This is quite simply the best pub in England! I like its quirky ways and travel a long way to visit it as often as I can. The ham, egg (ask for two if you're feeling hungry!) and chips at lunchtime is wonderful. The landlord is a character. Thank goodness we still have this kind of establishment in our country. I dread the day it smartens up and we're waved off with a 'have a nice day' at the end of our meal. The whole point is that this place emerges from the mist of the Kent marshes like something out of a Dickens novel. It's magical.
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I used to like this pub when I lived in Faversam, and have often raved about it to others. Because of its remote location it is tricky to get to, and two previous attempts over the past couple of years have not been successful as the pub was closed due to somewhat erratic opening hours. After doing the Mount Ephraim 10 K run, we thought we'd give it another go and have Sunday lunch here. Unfortunately we arrived to be confronted with a sign saying they would not be serving any more people. Along with a bunch of other unfriendly and scruffy signs informing people what they could not do. The pub is quirky, and should be a more pleasant experience, especially as the beer (all from Kent breweries) is served in excellent condition from gravity casks behind the bar.
I so want to still like this pub, but the unfriendly signs, inconsistent opening hours for such a remote pub, uncertainty of getting food, and general scruffy nature are somewhat off putting. Best phone first (either on the number above or on the pub's own number which can be found via google) if planning to visit for either a drink or a meal.
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A fantastic pub full of character, with books and marine paraphanalia all over the place. Pub is in fabulous location out on the creek mouth by itself, generator for electricity and toilets in an outhouse. Always a good fire going in winter, and a beautiful spot for a walk in summer.
Landlord is quite a character - don't try to use a mobile or he'll bring his bolt-cutters out and chop it in half (exception allowed - calling a taxi to get back to town from the place!!). As the other review says, there are lots of regulations - one has the impression he is not entirely enamoured with the incumbent government!
The food is not exceptional - just pub grub - cheesy chips etc, though they often are not serving for one reason or another. I suggest ringing in advance to be sure. Beer is straight out of the barrel and of the Goachers variety. Dog friendly and a nice garden for summer. Go by boat if you have one handy!
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The beer here is great, however a few months ago I came for a spot of lunch with the family and happened to mention i wasn't happy with one of the dishes. Well, crikey I may as well have ran through the bar naked and wee'd on the carpet by the way we were treated after that. I may be cutting off my nose, etc, but I will never go back.
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Went here last Friday, very nice pub. Beer was great didnt eat though, but when I ogled other peoples tuck it looked ok. They have an obsession with chalked signs saying you cant do this, you cant do that,clean your shoes/boots,put yer shirt on,no public right of way,dogs/children on leads and dont dare eat your own sandwich in the garden.Apart from the signs a great pub!
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Given the beer is straight out of the barrel it is very good. Food...not so good, nothing wrong with it if you like it presented as if it was in a shared all male student house.
A pub to go with your mates; if you think you can have any chance of impressing the girlfriend or misses with the food here to let you off driving home forget it.
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Brilliant place to go - scenic walks around the place, picturesque garden and with beer strainght out of the barrel, what more could you ask for?
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Well worth a visit. Be warned it's a bit of a trek. Either footpath along the creek or a road accessed via a housing estate, either way good beer and food at the end of it.
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What a great place, quirky good honest pub which is set by Faversham creek. Various real ales from local micro brewerys. lovely on a summers day when you can sit outside on the waters edge and watch the world go by, or a cosy pub during the cold months when the fire is roaring. Well worth the drive
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A peculiar wood-clad building in a remote location. Has the feel of a locals pub, although I'm not sure where the "locals" come from! There's a riverside footpath indicated on maps which runs right past. I walked from Faversham town centre. The interior is decorated with a nautical theme and five ales were served, all on gravity, mostly from Goacher's but also other small Kentish brewers.
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This really is something special, and might well qualify in that rarest of categories - genuinely unique pub. I know of nowhere else that captures the same sort of character and atmosphere that is evoked in the Shipwrights.
It's position on Hollowshore has something to do with it, and it is a divine pleasure being able to sup your beer whilst reclining beside the creek in mellow sun watching the boats sale by in the distance. But the pub's interior has a real patina to it; a genuine sense of organic history which has remained unspoilt for decades. An honest, no-frills, sea-farers place.
All ales are perfectly served direct from the cask, including Hopdaemon and Goachers offerings, both much-sought after amongst the real ale cognoscenti of Kent. The latter brew a special beer for the pub.
I understand that the food is equally impressive, although having never got past the concept of liquid refreshment here, I have yet to sample it.
I really find nothing to complain about. If you can find it, use it and see what the fuss is about.
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I've only been to this pub once - in February 2006, but it immediately became one of my three favourite pubs. Why? Because of its stunning location, lovely beer, super chilli con carne, and great atmosphere. I can hardly wait to return there.
anonymous - 14 Mar 2006 16:41 |
Extraordinary multi-award winning ancient free house out on the marshes about 2 mile stroll from faversham train station. Beer from Hop Daemon, Goachers and other - not a Shep's pub unlike most other faversham houses. Only got mains electricity and tarmac on the road a few years ago. Used to be easier to arrive by boat. Food is ordinary but popular. Landlord has visibly mellowed since arrival of grandkids and dog - and is now most welcoming to families in the large open creekside garden. If you haven't visited you really should.
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