NOT QUITE THE LOCAL WE WERE HOPING FOR

THE BULL at BARMING 
After a brisk stroll from home, down hill, along the Medway then uphill to Tonbridge Rd we'd covered 3.5km before we found a pub. We'd driven past it so many times but there's a whole new incentive to stop when you're walking on a warm day and the sun has just made it beer o'clock.
"Let's see if they've got anything interesting on tap".

And did they what! The bride's eyes lit up when she saw the Aspall logo. I tend to agree. May just be THE WORLD"S GREATEST CIDER. So we were definitely stopping but just as well I had £10 in the back pocket. I asked the bored young bartender for his beer recommendation. Given that we were the only midday patrons he had plenty of time to consider his advice.
To his credit he recommended one of the greatest beers I've ever sipped. Enticingly balanced between overdoses of hops and malt this instantly scored my 5/5 rating. 

So with lure of the Wednesday £7.50 steak special, a level 2km walk from home and two repeat pints we vowed to return. This could be our new local promising a vast improvement on The Fox. 


Once again Sharp's Cornwall Atlantic Pale Ale [£3.50 pint] was just as impressive as was the Aspall Draught Cider [£4 pint]. But the steak was just OK. We expect better from Pubs or maybe that's just an Australian thing. The tomato was blandly uncooked and the peas were just peas. There was enough mustard to last a lifetime. The chips however were sensational. But do you walk 4km on a Wednesday night to spend £22.50 on two outstanding pints and a hundred or so outstanding chips?

The Bull has plenty going for it. There's lots of space, a pleasant enough beer garden plus a few nooks and crannies to escape the crowd - if there was one. Maybe its old owners who have run out of steam or new owners who are sussing out the market.

We'll probably give it another try and hopefully we'll be acknowledged as new patrons rather than an interruption to what looked like the publican's family gathering.


THE BULL INN 
5 TONBRIDGE RD MAIDSTONE PH 01622 726468