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The Story

Coaching inn on the London to Dover road, then town local, then rooms put back together. Two centuries of the kettle hanging over the bar on Ashford High Street.

Built for travellers, kept for the town

1847, market town at a crossroads. Coaches stopped in the yard, travellers came in for heat. The copper kettle over the bar meant bar open. Same kettle, same hook.

Two wars, railway, century of changing fashion later, plan still old inn — snug, main bar, arch to yard on Church Passage. In 2015 David and Helen took lease and spent years lifting carpets, finding oak boards, stripping settles back.

Brick and timber street in historic town

Dates that still matter

1847
Thomas and Margaret Hawthorne open the coaching inn on Ashford High Street. Horses in the yard, smoke from the kitchen. A copper kettle hangs to say the bar is lit.
1892
The big kettle is hung above the bar as a sign. Same kettle, same hook. Sophie polishes it on Monday mornings.
1923
Fire takes the shops next door. Ashford brings buckets, then timber. We are pouring again by Saturday.
1978
Grade II listed — Flemish-bond brick, chamfered beams, and the old coaching arch you still walk through on Church Passage.
2015
David and Helen take the keys. They lift carpets, find oak boards, strip paint off the settles, and put the coppers back where they belong.
2023
CAMRA Kent Pub of the Year. Judged on beer kept well and a welcome kept honest.