The Little Gem, Aylesford

This pub needs more than just a reputation for its size and its name, in order to survive. It needs 3 things:

a) A cellerman who knows his job,
b) A good steam clean (including the barman),
c) No animals in the food area.

The state of the beer would not be tolerated `up north` where I come from. I only had a pint because it was nowhere up to scratch - I didn`t want to risk gastric problems a few hours later, by having another !

The tables were sticky to the touch caused by many years of never being cleaned properly by anything hot or soapy.

The meal, when it eventually arrived a good 20 minutes after ordering, had been cooked by microwave and was not in the least succulemt. In the tiny bar area, my wife and I had to share the meal in the company of two dogs. One was under the bench seat where my wife was sitting and the other, a huge slobbering mutt, had free reign to roam the bar area dribbling all over the carpet. It was not the finest environment in which to eat food.

There is a much better and cleaner pub about 20 metres away. The Little Gem is no competition for them at all either with their beer or their food.

My wife and I visited the pub during the second week in July 2010 and unsurprisingly, were the only punters in the place.

The place is certainly little, but a gem ? No, not unless you are a dust mite or a bluebottle !

gavioli

25 Jul 2010 12:33