The Red Lion, Biddenden

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.

20 Jul 2009 11:56