South Tonbridge Pub Crawl Part Two....

So the challenge of a half pint in each of the pubs in South Tonbridge on a Monday evening had been set and my wife and I had already been to three (see last post.) Walking in the vague direction of The Punch and Judy or maybe the Foresters it suddenly hit me that there was one pub in South Tonbridge I'd never been to in all of my 22 years living in the town. The Nelson, on the corner of Nelson Avenue and Cromer Street, nestled on, some say the right side of the nearby railway tracks. This establishment has the appearance of one of the those old Victorian  public houses more at home in the East End of London; big and imposing, a bit out dated but sometimes they can be the best places. When we eventually arrived there, having walked around the houses a few times to find it, I must confess to feeling a tad disappointed. Firstly it looked closed, as there didn't seem to be enough lights on from the angle we approached it. Then we entered to the scene which was becoming familiar: a barmaid looking very unbusy, being mostly ignored by the half dozen blokes in there sat around glued to football on the large sports screen. I'll be honest and say that my first reaction was to walk straight out again but my wife had already found out that the served Whitstable Brewery's Bay bitter and had put the order in for two halves. This turned out to be our best move of the evening. Teri, the bubbly barmaid, who confided in my wife that she was no footy fan, seemed positively delighted to have the company of some new customers and within a few minutes was swapping Jamie Oliver recipes for Salmon and roasted vegetable dishes! They had happy hour going until the first goal scored, which meant that we had enjoyed our first drink at a knock down price. Teri was good at selling the place too, saying that the new landlady was making a real effort by introducing music nights, food theme nights and interesting beers to try to turn the place round. We must have enjoyed it there as it became the first pub of the evening where we indulged in a second half (steady on now!) We had the same again as this was the only bitter they were serving last night and it was very enjoyable, although this time it was full price as one of the Man U players had, rather annoying, broken the deadlock on about 70 minutes. We left the Nelson with the distinct feeling that we'd discovered a hidden jewel of Tonbridge and that we'd definitely be back. We decided to make the last stop of the night the Punch and Judy, at the back of Tonbridge Police Station, probably the least adventurous of all the pubs we'd been to as we have had a few drinks in there fairly recently. We were glad we did though as the first thing I spotted when approaching the bar to order was the Tonbridge Brewery logo. What a delightful sight. I never understand why local pubs can't support local beers and here was one that was doing just that. The P&J isn't the most atmospheric or pubs in the area by any means and it was a Monday night, but, hey, I'm a sucker for good beer. Two halves of a very tasty Auburn Myth later and we were ready for setting off back home after a wonderful educational beer and pub tour of the South end of the town. Best pub of the night: The Nelson. Best beer of the night: without a doubt the Auburn Myth. Share your own thoughts on the best pubs in the town....