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| Viking Bay, Broadstairs |
We caught a train from Margate to Broadstairs on Friday 29 April, 2016. Broadstairs station is about a third of a mile inland from the sandy beach at Viking Bay.
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| Serene Place, Broadstairs |
Approaching the sea and just off the High Street, the brick and flint houses opposite pastel coloured houses in Serene Place make a charming contrast.
We stopped for a look at Viking Bay and Dickens House on Victoria Parade before walking down to the harbour via the Parade.
The Chapel
We returned via the narrow Harbour Street to
The Chapel on Albion Street for our first beer in Broadstairs.
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| Boxed cider, Cask ale and books at The Chapel |
The main bar is set back from the street. An upper floor has shelves of books for sale.
Two cask ales were available and we chose Sir Kay a 4% ABV extra pale ale brewed in Worksop by
Grafton Brewing at £3 pint.
The front room, visible from the street has further seating and books. A traditional wooden ale cask is displayed in the front window. Some good music by the likes of Sheryl Crow and Dusty Springfield was playing on a decent sound system.
The Thirty-Nine Steps
The
Thirty-Nine Steps Alehouse is only 150 yards south from The Chapel and is situated in Charlotte Street, on the other side of the High Street.
With a choice of four cask ales at £3 pint, the
Saltaire Long Day IPA (3.8% ABV) from Yorkshire was a new beer for us to try. Bar snacks available included a cheese snack plate (£3), Victory pork pie (£2), Crisps (80p). Ciders were also £3 pint.
At this micropub, casks are racked behind a sliding glass door in a cooled area so there is no need for cooling jackets on the casks.
There are high tables with stools as well as high bench seating with cushions against the walls. Empty casks were positioned underneath the tables and in the window - presumably due to storage space being at a premium. The main sound in the bar was conversation as the pub filled up on a Friday.
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| Meg with CAMRA branch magazines |
Decor includes some classic 39 Steps film posters.
There is also a map with pins against breweries that have supplied the Thirty-Nine Steps Alehouse. The ceiling is lined with brewery pumpclips.
It looks like beers are sourced from all over the UK. A board showed that 'Since 30/11/2012 we have served 1502 different ales from 627 different breweries.'
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| St Peter's Road, a mainly residential road |
To reach the next pub we would retrace our steps along the High Street to the station and beyond turn right onto St Peter's Road until we reached The Four Candles Alehouse.
The Four Candles Alehouse
The
Four Candles Aleshouse was quite busy but we managed to find a place to sit at one of the two high tables.
I introduced myself to Mike Beaumont as the editor of
Ullage, West Berkshire CAMRA magazine, and he kindly agreed to pose for a photo.
The Four Candles is the smallest brewpub in the UK and four beers brewed on the premises were available at £3 per pint. I ordered a Double Hopburst golden ale brewed with Magnum and Bobek hops.
Mike went to the chiller cabinet containing racked casks in a back area to pour our beers.
The decor includes pumpclips from the days when more guest ales were served, a galvanised bucket lampshade and a pair of fork handles (to tie in with the
Ronnie Corbett hardware shop TV sketch). With windows on two sides and pale painted walls, the interior is bright and airy.
On the shelves were some '
Planet Thanet' beer festival glasses and several
West Berkshire Brewery pumpclips.
A poster by
Royston Robertson explains how the beer is brewed and finally winched into the pub.
The winch was concealed by a housing on the ceiling, just above where we were sitting. Before leaving we bought a couple of bottles of New Zealand Pale, a 4.5% ABV bottle conditioned pale ale made with rare and organic Rakau and Waimea hops, to take home.
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| Dreamland, Margate - view from train |
We caught a train back to Margate and passed Dreamland theme park before arriving at Margate station with its impressive entrance hall.
