please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Having found The Bull at Benenden packed out lunch-time my brother and I headed for Biddenden. Only one pub here now The Red Lion. What a contrast in popularity to The Bull as there was only one young couple at the bar ordering drinks, the rest of the pub was eerily empty. We wondered why it was completely devoid of regular customer when the up-market café next door also with beer and wine on the menu was full of diners and whether we should move on but as it was quarter to two by this time so we decided to stay. The roomy eating area had a log fire and was well laid out with cutlery and napkins with a tall red candle burning on each table and that together with the plentiful hanging Christmas decorations gave the place a retro feel of some forty years ago.
The large chalk-board (no menus on the tables) had a respectable choice of starters and main courses. My brother ordered from the old chap behind the bar in the small drinking part of the pub who offered to put it all 'on a piece of paper' for payment at the end. I was having liver and bacon with veg and my brother ordered bacon egg and chips instead of the ham egg and chips on the chalk board. That at first was refused as the meal came as a package of ham egg and chips but after an argument he offered to ask in the kitchen if that was possible. The young couple had meanwhile brought their drinks up from the bar past where we were sitting to a slightly separate part of the dining area at the back but a shouted instruction from behind the bar told them to come back and sit in the main part as where they'd chosen wasn't for eating (although the tables were set for meals). Meanwhile a couple of old regulars had arrived to a cheerful greeting and 'mine host' engaged in friendly conversation with them.
Judging by his demeanour with outsiders, just passing through, as if he was serving customers in a cycle shop but chatting away to his local buddies gave us the impression of someone who thought we should be treated in as customers who could have unpredictable demands and questions.
If you would like to experience the nearest I've come to Fawlty Towers, do try the Red Lion. After all the beer was good and the food reasonable pub nosh, so I guess we must have met the famous Bob of previous comments which could be the answer as to why the pub was almost empty.
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I had used this pub a few times before with no problems but last Friday Bob, the landlord showed why he has such a bad reputation. I am a 68 year old retired business man out for a pub lunch with my sister and wife. Not exactly your typical trouble maker!
When we arrived I went to the bar but was asked to "bear with" him and he would see me asap. After 25 minutes in the pub during which time Bob served four local ladies with lunch, greeted a regular and served him, had a long conversation with another local man about how he had sweet talked a brewery rep into supplying a glass washer in exchange for "a drink on the side" he asked if we were ready to order lunch. I said that we'd prefer to have a drink first but he insisted that we order our food before ordering drinks. This is when I made my big mistake. I turned to my wife and joked "it's just as well this isn't a pub because you could die of thirst". Bob's reaction was immediate, he poked my shoulder and said "If that's the way you feel about it the best thing you can do is put your coat on and leave!" and refused to serve us.
He obviously needs help, firstly to greet his customers with a drink and secondly to address his attitude what he perceives as criticism.
Still it's making an interesting story with my friends. Being ejected from a pub for the first time at age 68!
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An average village pub that does a good food trade as the meals there are all freshly prepared. The atmosphere is cozy and a good mixture of friendly locals drink in there. For how quaint and olde worlde the pub is it has a pretty average selection of beers which is a shame. Bob the landlord can be a funny old sort from time to time- he is one of those landlords who likes to know who everyone is and is far more tolerant of locals than random 'outsiders' - the reason for this I have concluded is he must be fairly near retirement age and has made his money so just wants things his own way and doesnt need to impress anyone to drum up trade which seems an odd way to be if you are in the hospitality trade. Also being the only pub in the village he knows no one can go anywhere else. Saying that he has always seemed friendly to me but then again I am local!! All in all an average pub that with a few tweaks could be an excellent pub
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Enjoyed the beer, food was good and reasonably priced (great selection of dishes to choose from) and the staff were friendly. Nice open fire on a bitterly cold evening. Bob the landlord seemed very pleasant;�he saw that we were new faces and stopped twice for a chat. We felt very welcome and will be going back � hope we don't experience any of the unpleasantness outlined in earlier comments!
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Abandon all ye hope who enter here! that should be the legend over the door of this place.
If you don't hear it from the landlord himself that is..the clientele is probably quite indicative of the locals who drink there and haven't got anywhere else. We really couldn't imagine anyone coming out here for the priviliedge of this sort of banter..bit of a bad taste in the mouth for such a beautiful place.
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Dissapointing treatment by the landlord. The atmosphere is a bit hostile towards locals - who clearly don't have anywhere else to go. My partner and I came in with a few friends from Maidstone and had been on a lovely country walk and decided to pop in to have a drink. We got a pint but felt intimidated by the strange looks and particularly by the management who appear just as rude as those who drink there.
Its a beautiful area. Real shame about the people, who will put off any newcomers or strangers coming in. Really not reccomended unless you want to be eyeballed from not being from there. Could do with a complete rehaul or buyout by some friendlier folk!
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Whilst on my camping trip in Biddenden, Kent we visited the Red Lion pub after for some after dinner drinks. The minute we walked through the door I could tell we wasn�t welcome but there was no other pub to drink in such a small village.
So we ignored the rude service and continued to chat to the locals in the pub who were all so pleasant to us unlike the landlord Bob, who really doing his upmost to make us feel unwelcomed.
After two drinks I decided we should head back to the campsite and approached the bar to ask for a taxi number. The landlord shouted at me before I even opened my mouth �No�..we are closed!�. I said I just like a taxi number to which he replied he didn�t know of any. Lucky enough the locals were kind enough to give me a number to call but the taxi firm said they would be an hour.
As I am waiting for a taxi at the table in the pub I see the landlord service a local man two pints, so I approach the bar hopeful for a small drink but was shouted at again they were closed. It wasn�t 11pm yet, so I found this hard to believe. So I tried to appeal to the landlord better nature by explaining we have an hour to wait for our taxi. He just said he was closing up and have to wait for the taxi outside.
So we get up to leave and a local couple offer us a lift to our campsite. On our way out my partner shouts to the landlord �at least some people are nice!� At this the lord is enraged and start shout abuse at us, we ignore and continue to walk away with the couple who offer us a lift.
To my horror I turn to see we are being chased by landlord who shouts to the man who giving us a lift to not give those *@~# people a lift and get back into the pub. The poor man who was going to give us a lift tries to reason with the landlord then returns to the pub embarrassed while the landlord continues to shout abuse at us.
I approach the landlord to calm him down and ask why he is treating us this way to be poked in the chin by the landlord whilst he is shouting in my face.
I believe the landlord was holding a lock in and was not happy by the presence of non-locals in which he did his upmost to get rid of us from the beginning. Lucky enough an outraged local saw all this and kindly offered us a lift back to the campsite.
Whilst getting a lift he tells us that the landlord always upsets a lot of locals as well as tourist like our selves but no one stands up to him because it the only pub in the little village. He himself has moved out of the village because of the landlord behaviour towards him.
It soiled my first night of the weekend to say the least, let alone upset me greatly that myself and my partner been treated in such a way just for not being locals, and because he wanted to have a lock in.
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could be fantastic although ruined by idiotic locals and bar staff who cannot communicate. half a glass of beer had been sitting in the corner where we sat for at least a month. Beautiful location, lovely inside, shame about the staff.
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Pleasant enough pub. However they seem to put far more emphasis on the food side of the business than on the pub side. Two very average ales on the hand pump.
It's not a bad pub, I'd go back. But there are better pubs withing five minutes drive.
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Been drinking in here on and off for quite a few years and it really is a cracking local that is the heart of the village. Food isn't as good as it used to be, but it's ok. Get down there in the Summer and sit out the front and just watch the world go by. Marvellous.
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