Pubs in Tunbridge Wells, Kent*

The place to go for a lazy afternoon, pub quiz or last call

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• Th Guinea Butt - new team, 2 new chef's, recent 5/5 food hygiene rating from the Environmental Health Dept. We're in the town centre so perfect for popping in whilst, or after, shopping for a bite to eat or chilled bottle of wine. Our beer garden is all cleaned up ready for summer and perfect for enjoying a nice cold pint in the sunshine. Karaoke every Tuesday night also for those of you who want a livelier atmosphere during the week. Why not pop in and give us a try? From Sam & the team.
• Fed up of pikey slaggy underagers going in the pubs- youll get raped stop it. Ragged trousers good, sankeys, beau nash, cassidys
• prince of wales is great, so is the beau nash and spoons is always good
• Polskie Lane on Camden Road - DJ & live music nights
• Wetherspoons for cheapness, guinea butt for music and atmosphere, the barn for friendly people and of course for the young looking people theres always a park!
• Duke of york. Onoxious landlord. pint pullers think their something else, weird!!
• the compasses - good pub shame about the staff wetherspoons opera house - good staff and surroundings although the carpet is grotty but the beer is cheap
• The Barn nice place for the older generation
• Spoons is OK (very student but soooo cheap) don't go when the Universities students are back as it takes half an hour to get served!!! Que Pasa is rubbish, full of extemely undesirable people. Pitcher and Piano is expensive, TN4 is pretentious and expensive. Best pub would have to be Sankeys, nice people a real chill-out zone were you can have a drink, listen to music but still hear your mates talking to you without them having to shout!!! Needs an update and an extension as always really busy, but it's good. Any other pubs aren't worth mentioning, only Lava as it does great food, but bar is really small and can get extremely busy.
• Duke of york landlord well stuck up, doing you a favour by serving you. a well no no. wanted to throw my pint over him. toffee nose!!
• Weatherspoons does cheap pints, but it's horribly crowded on a Friday or Saturday night. Full of twats who are too unimaginative to go anywhere else. If you're very freshed faced and forgot your ID then you might want to go in before the bouncers get on the door and hope you don't get chucked out. Which I have seen happen. The quieter pantiles pubs are good. They're more homely and you can hear yourself talk. If you've had a long day and just want to rest and sit talking to friends, they're better. Plus, you're near The Forum if you feel like a bit of variation to your evening.
• TN4 or Guinea Butt always good, or u got the Grapevine
• Ok, where's the current equilvalent of the Sussex Arms in its heyday?...a unreal pub believe you me, full of hippys and bikers, right here in tunbridge wells!...3 small bars, open fires, grubby and real, like some old geezers house in the country with no electric but nice tripping sometimes and now is gone.
• The litten tree serves a FRESHER FACED crowed every day.
• Thorins and the Barn are both very good especially in the summer with their outdoor areas. If you prefer a quieter pint perhaps The Compasses or one of the pubs in the pantiles which all allow you to sit outside.
• Que Pasa- it's more of a cocktail bar but really deserves a visit! New cocktail list coming soon! The best cocktails in town and the best shooters, not to mention the pole above the dance floor, and the cheeky/rude dj, oh and the gorgeous bar staff!
• Try the Duke of york in the pantiles, when you go in about 6.30 you will see the three wise monkeys (True) sitting at the end of the bar making comments about whoever walks in, they think it is a great honour that they are serving you!! Rumour has it that the landlord really thinks he is the Duke of Youk.
• Guinea Butt for you lovers of rock etc, cassidys for you lovers of chavs, crap pop music etc and the picture and piano to meet the biggest knobs (male and female) of your life. Weatherspoons for cheap drinks and to get smashed off your face!
• SG, Thorins, TN4 or Sankeys in town. The Brown Trout at Lamberhurst further out.
• look out for new bar opening in Camden Road Tunbridge Wells it is Rock n Roll & Elvis themed and will be Rockin
• Opera House opposite Habitat is great to look at inside (Still has the Stage setup and stalls) but a bit smokey. Good Prices though. The Beau Nash on Mount Ephraim behind the Wells Hotel does excellent food and beer.
• I like the grapevine and Pitcher and Piano cos they've got strict over 21's policies!!!!!
• Why does the Crystal Palace attract such miserable landladies?
• The Crystal Palace evrey new landlady seems more miserable than the last
• The Office, Orson Wells, Duke of York and The Spa are good. Most of the others have too many kids.
• the spa bar next to the station is nice, wetherspoons is cheap.
• Beau Nash, does the most amazing roasts. Proper, home made roast potatoes and lovely fresh vegetables. Very popular so go early for food. I don't know if you can book or not. Good locals pub. Sankey's downstairs NOT up.
• The only thing the swan in Tunbridge wells is good for is playing pool or watching the footie on their nwe wide-screen and there cheap drinks £1 a pint!!! If u want a gd night out in T-wells thats quite hard to find cause their is not much usally going on. At the top of the town u can go around the pubs but they are mostly full of old people or u can go down to the pantilles and watch people play Bowls!!! what fun! The only real place one should go is the the LEGENDARY SPOONS..... no chavs!!
• Checking out your website, there is a mixture of reviews regarding Bar Zia...however things have moved on & a £100k refit is on cue for beginning of 2004. In the meantime funky house has been introduced as the basis of entertainment for the more discerning sociables. There is a select door policy to ensure the non-entry of undesirables.
• pubs=no bouncers= good for underagers, but they are grungy so soz if that's not your style. guniea but opposite argos is cool to hide in, the grapevine in the bottom of the highstreet= small and cramped, full of oldies but still ok. the spa, on the corner of the station by safeways is ok too- more funky and upbeat, but still small.
• Avoid The Pitcher & Piano..... The manager James is a right wanker up his own arse, he thinks hes someone & hes gods gift, but hes not, but hes only young... The place has gone down hill, most of the old bar staff have gone which is a shame.... But the place is full of wana bees...The lads think they are gods gift (they are so not..) they like to think they have cash...The women most of them are jumped up tarts who like to spend daddy's money or there husbands money.. There is a lot of Mutton dressed as Lamb there aswell..But there is one good thing Keirin the doorman hes cute...Is he still there?????
• Pitcher & Piano...Its full of PPP healthcare staff so would avoid it.. As people who work at PPP are all up themselfs & are rather interbread.. The place is full of tarts & wankers
• Ther aren't many pubs left in tunbridge wells
• The Grapevine is the best place for music especially on a Thursday night but unfortunately very small. However they are extending downstairs. The office is nice for chilling and Pitcher and Piano and TN4 gppd for the older crowds.
• Try the Rose and Crown Grosvenor Road - a decent pub and no fresh faced people - it's not trendy enough
• The guy who said the George has changed was spot on. I nearly cried when i saw what they did to the place. Student nurses,residant alcoholics a quiz machine that u could almost win everytime on (Bully), as a K&S employee i know of at least 4 marriages that resulted from The George, Eamonn and Evelyn u are not forgotten.
• If in tunny wells, i go to- the guinea butt, the grapevine and zapata's. i might go to bar zia or spoons if desperate. But spoons should be avoided now- it was good whilst at school, but now is full of sixth formers and thirty year old chavs drinking stella- that road next to it always has fights on it at 11.30!! I spose i might go to the sussex in the summer but it always seems populated by freaks!! The barn is for people without personalities, yates is a hell hole for people without souls, the litten tree (sorry, clit'n'bush) is a stinking townie sewer full of sovereign wearing hardnut idiots, and the orson welles is full of cokeheads and 36 year old trendies who'll try and talk to you about rugby. The compasses is nice, a bit far out i guess, and chaplin's is ok too. the office is good cause they have boggle, but again, a slightly older clientele. To be fair, tunny wells has so many pubs to choose from that evryone can be happy somewhere! If you're like me and you like warm, individual, funky places with good music (ie. no celine dion or boyzone or stereophonics) then i reccomend the guinea butt and the grapevine.
• barzia,bar 54, davinchi's,sussex all of them
• sussex is a good pub just round the corner from the forum, barzia, bar 54, litten tree all of them.
• Thorins, Lovely for 20s upwards. Nice terrace to sit on outside. The Barn, Nice atmosphere. Pitcher and Piano, a little crowded. Weatherspoons is awful, the doormen are rude and pretentious. Bar Zia, used to be nice, since it got taken over again. Bit rough now, pool table pointless, no room to move. Needs pulling down if you ask me. I used to work there when it was a little less tacky.
• The Sussex pub is again very nice in the Summer with the courtyard and all............... the rest are pooooop.
• No mention of The Office, good station rd anywhere, good music, no tossers, great food and horny bar staff.
• Tunbridge Wells is dangerous at night and pikeys will shout abuse for no reason... do not retaliate or you'll be out for the night. I would only go to the trendy & friendly bars like Pitcher & Piano, Que Pasa, Chaplins and the Barn. I would avoid Bar 54 (overpriced, underpopulated) and The 'Litter Tray' (monkeys on the door). I am impartial to Weatherspoons... on the one hand it's cheap and tacky... on the other there's loads o young student totty!!! So I may be seen there every so often...
• The Compasses, off the High Street, is the oldest pub in TW. The Barn, just up from the station, is over 21s only, so no annoying identikit teenagers.
• Greyhound - Dump Mitre - Dump actually they are all dumps.
• grape vign. best of the lot
• The Guinea Butt .... hummm.... a traditional pub with a twist.... I luv it !!
• Spoons - A great meeting place - In the middst of town Litten Tree - Up the road a bit from spoons - Lively music but always crowded Que Passa - Drink aren't cheap, young bar staff, very loud music, round the corner from spoons Bar 54 - Down the road from spoons oposite Pizza Hut, can be very quiet on a non weekend night, they'll have the pool table out if they dont have a DJ using it as his deck stand. Barzia - At the Bottom towards the pantiles, lively and good music, 3 quid to get in after 11 on a friday, no trainers or extreme clothes tatoos etc, they also have a pool table 1 pound a game. The GROVE - Last but NOT least the grove, one of my first pubs i got served in, it has a pool table 70p a game, darts, lively landlord (Steve), it's quite small but drink prices are average, it's up the street from Barzia, or you can walk through the park from the first right up the Hoopers road (Past the Raj).
• I used to go to the George all the time, when i lived by the hospital, but sice the owners have made it into a poncy trendy bar i won't go near it, plus bouncers on the door, whats all that about? I never saw any trouble in there for the whole 5 years that i have been going there! Come on Guys, dont ruin the one good pub that we had in Tunny Wells! Change it back. The other good pub, which luckily hasnt changed, is Cassidys, even though they have stopped selling Harp....bring it back!
• All pub's in Tunbridge Wells are massively overpriced. I live in Exeter now and it costs about £1.50 for a nice pint most places. Expect to pay about £2.50 for a badly pured pint in most places in T.Wells. Some nice country pubs but no-one under the age of 50 can get to them. Only pubs I like are the Guinea Butt - they have comfy sofas, nice beer, friendly atmosphere, play hip-hop, jaz and funk, have flavoured vodkas (check out the killer chilli vodka - evil, i couldn't sit down the next day after having a crap, Get one of your mates to drink one when pissed) and The Compasses where they have board games you can borrow, though it's not as nice as it used to be - they've got one guy there who seems to hate anyone who doesn't have a mortgage.
• SO MANY!! Que Pasa, where Yate's used to be is REALLY nice. The Litten Tree is good as well. Try the Grove Tavern or the Compasses, cheap, friendly and the Grove has a pool table! The Biscuit Factory where the Charles Stapley used to be is class as well
• The Summit Bar-Hip hop night every Thurs with DJ First Rate and friends.Well worth missing E4's big thursday.
• Grapevine, Chapel Place - Excellent Lounge Bar. Great for twenty-thirtysomethings.
• 4 pubs, all pretty nice but not brilliant
• the guinea butt.....sexy barmen and dont forget to ask for geoff chips...theyre the speciality!
• What about the Old West Station.........It's quiet most of the time and the staff have got a good line in pithy attitude - beats the hell out of the 'have a nice day' generation and can be hysterical!!! The Litten Tree is also new and a laugh........great DJ on a fri and sat night!!!
• The Litten Tree!!!!!!!!!
• How long is THE GREYHOUND in Upper Grosvenor going to have a bad reputation. The pub changed 18 months + ago. My hubby Pete and I have been running it for 10 months now and can't believe the pub still has a bad name. People should come and visit it for themselves and see what has changed! We have 3 outside seating areas (playground for kids, front of pub to watch the world go by, and our new 'adult only' quiet seated area in the back garden) we have a lovely 'comfy corner' great food, disabled toilet, real ales, live music every saturday, theme nights, quiz nites in the winter, bar-b-q in the summer. A lovely mixed crowd of regulars. WE ARE A NICE PUB - HONESTLY! - Lynn Parker - Landlady
• Theres no end to pubs in Tunbridge Wells, I believe 43 in all, some good some no so good, but even though there is a lot of bars you may still have to que to get into the main pubs in the centre, the likes of Weatherspoons (The Opeara House) The Litten Tree and Bar Zia, a good place to meet people is Spoons cause its right in the centre of town, it has cheap beer although this does reflect on the standard of ales searved (Boddington's? I don't think it is) then basically go wherever takes your fancy. Stay in town and you have, Litten Tree, Bar 54 and the Pitcher & Piano, if your heading down past the station there's, Bar Zia, Cassidey's, The Kentish Yoeman and "The Bedford". If you want to go further for a quieter drink go to the Pantiles where you'll find Thorin's, Chaplins' The Swan, Springs (This has just re-opened as another bar with another name beginning with 'L' but don't ask me what it was!?!) and The Sussex Arms also hidden away is Compasses which backs out on to the a park whick is good for the summer.
• Tunbridge wells has a fairly strict no underage drinkers policy and you get ID EVERYWHERE in my experience. the most popular local venue for most of the just legals is Spoons (or weatherspoons) which used to be the Opera House. Cassidys is also really cool as it has an irish theme!
• The Windmill Tavern in nORTH sTREET IS VERY aminiable and doesn't care what you look like .Is popular with old, the very old and young a like.AnD THE POOL TABLE IS always empty.
• I haven't seen any mention of the Charles Stapely, two pool tables, a darts board and cheap drinks mean that it absolutely rules!!!
• The Toad Rock at Rusthall (recently refurbished) Excellent... A really pleasant and relaxed atmosphere, a friendly welcome and excellent food (extremely good value for money). Definitely recommended!!!
• The Old Barn at Hildenborough burned down some time ago. If anyone knows anything about it, I'd like to know. It's very sad, it was a wonderful Road House in the hey-days of such things; flappers used to swim in the pool and dance in the barn. In the 60s it didn't have a licence, but we took in our own bottles and the dances were terrific. (Dated 9.7.2000)
• Wherever you go you're bound to bump into a pub at somepoint. Try Wetherspoon's @ the Opera House. Or for some music Yates round the corner. The kentish Yeoman has closed down cos when to police raided it only 5 people were over 18. But it's reopened and I think I heard its a gay pub now. But I might be lying.
• Excellent Opera House renovated by Wetherspoons, no music so you can have a relaxed conversation and BEST of ALL A NON SMOKING AREA!!!! hurrah!
• Weatherspoons (in the old opera house) is the cheapest and busiest place to be and if you go to TWGGS/Skinners you will know at least half the people in there on a friday night. I'm not saying it's good though - no music, massive queues for the ladies after 9pm and not enough seats. If you don't mind standing in a crush and having drunk people trip all over you you'll have a wicked night and still have lots of change from a tenner.
• The bristol Arms changed its name a couple of years ago to the Guinea Butt
• All shit apart from: The Mount Edgecombe, The Bull and thats it, the rest are full of pretentious toss pots, I could be lying though. No; good pubs just over priced and over rated.
• Bar Coast is now open (opposite Pizza Hut). This is another of the Conran style trendy bars that are opening all over the place. Nice decor, nasty wine and lots of poseurs!
• The wonderful White bear has now turned into one of the growing numbers of cafe/bars in the high street and is now called BarZia, as cafe/bars go, this one's quite good but I'd rather have the White bear back.
• you had no mention of the George and Dragon in Speldhurst.This historic pub is a must for visitors.Very old, stone floors, low ceilings etc.
• Bristol Arms, Calverly Road
• The Clarence/ Jailhouse/ Charles Stapely/ Derek Batey/ Whatever they're calling it this week, Church Road.
• The Swan Hotal (esp Friday eves)
• The Spread Eagle, along Forest Road, Hawkenbury
• The Beau Nash, tucked behind the Royal Wells Inn on Mount Ephraim above the Common.
• The Sussex
• The Compasses, Little Mount Sion. Bare boards and crowds.
• Any of the clutch of pubs down on the Pantiles in the evening, The Swan, The Duke of York and The Sussex. Can get very busy.
• The Opera House is soon to be converted from a Bingo Hall into a huge pub.
• The Opera House was converted by Weatherspoons into a pub. This is an understatement. They have recovered what had become a run down dump and restored it to nearly what it had been. It is worth a visit if only to enjoy the turn of the (last) century decoration in gold and red. The beer is quite good too.
• What was called Rupert's and is now called the White Bear or something like that down near the Pantiles.
  [Correction:] The pub was always called the White Bear and someone had the silly idea of calling it "Rupert's" (after the cartoon character who was a white bear). Rupert's as a name didn't last long.
• Also see The Wellington Rocks in hook ups.
• Check out Buffalo Bills, basically it is a pub desperately trying to be a club. It has very loud music with a live DJ who plays, some of the time, music better than what you're likely to hear in the Barn. Beer prices are extortionate... and it tends to be packed at the weekends. There have been knife fights there once or twice in the past and you would be unlucky not to see someone thrown out at some point in the night. It has two floors, the top one being more of a balcony from which you can look down onto the bottom floor where, in front of the bar, there is a small area where perhaps you are supposed to dance, but no one does. The top floor tends to be the domain of those looking like they are on substances other than alcohol and cigarettes. Its a great pub really. Oh yes.
• Phew, so many changes I don't know where to start. OK: The White Bear has been refurbed as Bar Zia - cold clinical and trendy A branch of Bar Coast has opened on Mount Pleasant where Bentalls used to be - for description see Bar Zia The Duke of York is now Chaplins Wine Bar - haven't tried it, looks like an attempt to draw the non-existent high class drinking set The Bristol Arms is now The Guinea Butt - one of the few conversions to still stock bitter via a reasonable pint of Harveys, also draught Hoegarden

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Last updated: 2011-04-14