please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Has now moved to 77 Stour Street which formed part of the original Biggleston Foundry and was most recently a cocktail bar and an art supplies shop before that. We were here on the afternoon of the Queen's death (not that we knew at the time) - everyone else also seemed to be a tourist. Beers were Street Light, Foundry Man's Gold, Torpedo, Canterbury Lager, Canterbury Pale Ale, Smooth, Canterbury IPA, Red Rye, Harlequin Pale Ale, South Island Lager, Itzamna, Stout and a keg conditioned sparkling cider. I tried the Smooth and the Torpedo both of which were very good (and over £5 a pint).
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Nice brewpub. Tried the Streetlight Porter which tasted rather thin and slightly sharp which was a little disappointing considering the high prices. Food was excellent and portions were huge.
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No real atmosphere on our visit here and all-pervasive smell of (line?) cleaning fluids. The staff were friendly enough and the beers that we tried were ok. Prices expensive, which considering they've only travelled across the courtyard from the brewery next door, were the wrong side of reasonable.
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The best pub of our short crawl of Canterbury. Beers are mostly from the Canterbury Brewery - Street Light Porter, Foundry Red Rye, Foundry Man's Gold, Foundry Torpedo. There was also Tiny Rebel Dirty Stop Out. 3 ciders were also on from Canterbury - Pear Drop, Apple Oaked & Cloudy. The bar is laid out over 2 floors, with toilets upstairs. Many people were eating. But we were here just for the beers and everything we had was rather nice. Not quite sure why all the bar staff were wearing headsets though. But the Foundry was certainly better than the Old Brewery Tavern just round the corner, which had no ales on at all.
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some reckon that this is the best pub in Canterbury.
certainly has some nice beer, and London prices.
£ 3-85 for a local Canterbury ale.
( I thought Kent was a economically depressed county)
I detected a certain clubby atmosphere, as in " what another tourist."
but I will give the pub another go some time.
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Visited yesterday with a crowd of ex-colleagues. Beer quality was a good as ever - especially the Gold. The food was also fine.
Unlike my visit in December (see below) there was no need to ask for top ups - and they definetly do not use over sized glasses. Pub score marked back up.
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No problem with excess noise on my visit! It was a Tues evening so that probably accounted for the lack of custom.
I nearly always visit this pub when I go to Canterbury. The beers are good and brewed on the premises, although they do offer guest ales as well. I enjoyed a Bigglestons Birdman and a Reverance.
The staff are friendly and keen to chat about their beers. They offer boxed sets of bottled beers so you can enjoy their ales in your own home. I purchased one as a present.
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I pinned all of my Saturday night hopes on this pub as in I was planning to work through their beer pumps and stay here to near close to closing time….that was until the music started upstairs!
The Foundry is the home to Canterbury Brewers & was intentionally left as the last of the 4 pubs I wanted to tick on my 1 day in Canterbury.
The bar was very impressive with 7 of their ales on the hand pumps and another 6 ales and lagers on keg. I started with a pint of Biggleston's Birdman @ 3.6% but this is as far as I got.
It was only just gone 9.00pm and the atmosphere was really nice and chilled, however by 9.30pm the music upstairs was pumping & as there are no doors between the upper and lower levels we might as well have been sitting upstairs!
Aswell as the music being loud and quite distracting the crowd become young very quickly and resembled a bit of a school playground with lots of screaming.
The room to the right of the bar house's the mash tuns, the food menu looked interesting and the staff were knowledgeable but I won’t make the mistake of visiting again on a Friday or Saturday night as it spoilt my experience.
Gutted!
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I'm surprised about the short measure comments - when I visited they were using over-sized glasses. Is this not still the case?
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Was pretty busy on Saturday afternoon but service was fairly good.
Beer quality was great and the prices (with a 10% CAMRA discout) were OK but, it gets rather annoying to have to ask for every pint served to be topped up! I'd hate to say that it was deliberate, but every pint that I saw served was well under a pint - amazing how few punters ask for a top up. On this ground alone, I mark the place down to a 6 on this visit.
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Brilliant beers, especially the Torpedo, all brewed on the premises. Good food and big helpings as well but beware they get very busy.
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Down from London for the day and this was the main pub on my list. The staff were very welcoming and the place had a good ambience with blues music playing softly in the background. An excellent range of cask and keg beers plus a selection of local ciders.
Tastings included Foundry Torpedo, Man's Gold and Street Light Porter (cask), Foundry IPA and a completely bonkers 9.6% Canterbury Itzamná Chocolate Vanilla Porter (both keg). My only complaint would be that the beers were slightly too chilled when poured, otherwise a firm 8 out of 10.
The food looked good as well so maybe next time.
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Oops, I meant Street Light Porter.
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Fantastic place with seven own-brewed casks, three own-brewed kegs, three local ciders and four other keg lager/cider/beers that are out-sourced. The staff are brilliant, cheerful & enthusiastic and you can see the brewery downstairs behind the bar. The food is also very good too.
Lots of variety in beer styles, but sadly haven't made it past the excellent Street Lamp Porter despite several trips to-date!
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Popped in her a couple of weeks ago and enjoyed a couple of pints of "Street Light Porter" - jut the thing for a cold winter's evening. Amazing place with on-site brewery!
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I visited on a Wednesday evening. This is a pub with a micro-brewery on site. I tried two of their beers, both of which were excellent. The food was very good too, although only available until 6 pm. The only disappointment were how few people had found it, tucked away down a side street. This is the only pub I have been to in Canterbury, but I would be surprised if there are many that are better than this.
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Really attractive conversion with plenty of trade and really helpful staff. The Foundry beers proved excellent and the range of food satisfied traditionalists, carnivores, vegetarians and those seeking a quick snack. It does guest ales too and I would cite this as a fine example of the new breed of brew-pubs
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January 2012. Freshly converted pub, very pleasantly done. Seven casks. 10% discount for CAMRA members, including food. Polite, considerate service. Children welcome. Excellent veggie pie.
Small space downstairs, but more room upstairs. Bright and airy and modern feel in an old building.
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Great place if you like real ale and craft larger which are brewed on the premises. Very friendly and knowledgeable staff and good food from lunchtime up until 6pm. Always a good atmosphere.
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Great pub with on site microbrewing. Very knowledgeable, friendly staff. Great food that is great value for money and above all great beer!
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A very pleasant afternoon sampling the range of beers brewed on the premises as well as one or two selected ales from other local breweries.
An excellent pub and certainly deserves the praise of the other reviewers.
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My first visit this year and it gets better and better. Very friendly and informed staff great beer and excellent food.
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Had late lunch here yesterday after visiting the University open day with our daughter. Very impressed indeed - we all were. Excellent food, superb beer (6 on, we tried Street Light Porter, Haka and Foundryman's Gold, all first class beers and well-kept. Service very friendly and efficient - reminded me of places we'd been to in Germany recently for quality and service, and that is high praise. Plus 10% off the bill as we are CAMRA members.
I will be surprised and disappointed if this place doesn't make the next edition of the Good Beer Guide.
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A group of us visited The Foundry yesterday for a lunchtime/afternoon session. Not especially busy but a steady trade. Lots of staff around including several who were busy in the brewery.
2 storey building with a bar on each floor (although the one upstairs wasn't in use) and a smallish outdoor seating area. 6 or 7 beers from the in-house Canterbury Brewers were on offer on handpump along with a few on keg tap and 3 local ciders on gravity. Prices from �3.10. Several different beers were sampled - we especialy liked the Gold, Haka and Gadds.
Food was served pretty quickly and was good value for money.
10% discount to card carrying CAMRA members applies to both drink and food - although the bar staff just gave everyone in our group the discount!
Highly recommended.
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It has 3 ciders from the Kent Cider Co. I tried the Bramley which was tasty - if you like a dry real cider. 10% off to CAMRA members.
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So pleased to see this pub doing well. The first time I visited there were not many people present but on more recent trips the popularity has increased. And rightly so! The bar staff are friendly and knowledgeable. There are a variety of beers available, six or seven on my last visit. I can recommend the Gold and the Torpedo.
In addition there are plenty of bottled beers behind the bar.
I can't comment on the food but upstairs the restaurant part of the pub always seems to have a lot of people in it.
Canterbury drinkers, (and eaters) have another fine hostelry to choose from. Lucky people!
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Nearly walked past the sign pointing to the Foundry. Glad we found it. Excellent selection in perfect condition. Very friendly barman, full of knowledge and a great sight to watch the beer quietly bubbling away in the huge vat of loveliness that is in the brewery yards from the bar. A regular from now on. Great stuff.
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I've visited several times since the Canterbury Beer Festival last July, and always had a cracking good pint - or three - on each occasion. There are half a dozen ales on engines, an engine for cider, and some of their beers also come in the aerosol-dispensed variation. There is a selection of European bottled ales and beers, including one from our troublesome colony on the other side of the Atlantic.
The food is good and not over-priced for Canterbury. I swerved in last week and not only did I have a pint of Christmas Pudding Ale - which had strong overtones of cloves and cinnamon - I couldn't actually discern the orange that is also present; I also had a couple of pints of Single Hop Pale - Fan-blooming-tastic! A chat with Thomas, the brewer, rounded off the visit.
This pub just goes from strength to strength, and is now my favourite pub within the city walls. 8/10.
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Located in White Horse Lane, just off the historic High Street, the Foundry is a former Victorian foundry where amongst other cast iron objects, lamp posts found throughout the city were made. This excellent brewpub seems to have been in existence for just a few months but wow! What sensational beers are brewed here. Sat at the short bar, the wonderful scent of hops waft through from the brews only yards away. There were six beer handpumps and one cider handpump when I called. I drank halves of Pale, Torpedo, Christmas Pudding Ale and another Pale. Gold is one of their best sellers too. Pale was exceptional as was the Torpedo but Christmas Pudding Ale was a disappointment as it tasted slightly of flat Lucozade. Sweet and weak the opposite of what a 4.6% should taste like.
There are two bars, one at street level, the other upstairs, and both are plainly decorated in cream and stained timber. The food looked really good value for money, and something to look forward to. The bar staff were yound, enthusiastic and helpful with the bewildering array of unknown (to me) beers
After two visits, this has become my favourite Canterbury pub and they deserve to do well.
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