British Pub Review - English Village Pub The George & Dragon in Ightham Kent

A Lovely British Country Pub in a "Chocolate Boxy" English Village

The English village pub, The George & Dragon, an early 16th century half-timbered pub, dominates the village square of Ightham (pronounced item). It was built about 1515, possibly as the home of the Earl of Stafford whose family symbol, a knot badge, decorates one of the fireplaces. Parish records indicate Queen Elizabeth I visited Ightham in 1573 and may have stopped at the George & Dragon - not then an English village pub but probably still a noble's family home at that time. There are also stories that this traditional village pub once served as a prison for the Duke of Northumberland on his way to execution in The Tower of London.

Today, the George & Dragon retains much of its original English village pub charm with heavy oak beams and inglenook fireplaces. The dark oaken bar, is well worn and atmospheric while the restaurant dining room is simply furnished with dark wooden furniture and creamy walls. There is also a pleasant beer garden for outdoor dining in good weather.

The pub, and its village, are lovely, but Ightham's pretty smile belies a dark past full of murder and intrigue.

Read more about the dark secrets of Ightham

Essentials

• Address: The George & Dragon
  The Street, Ightham, Kent TN15 9HH
  
• Telephone: +44 (0)1732-882440
• Price range Reasonable but not cheap. Expect to spend at about £25 per person for dinner. Less for lunch.
• Visit their website
• Open: Monday – Saturday 11:00a.m. to 11p.m. Lunch - noon to 3 p.m. (Saturday to 4 p.m.), Dinner - 6 to 9 p.m. Sunday noon to 10:30p.m., food served noon to 4:30p.m.
• Closed: Christmas Day

To Drink

The George & Dragon is a Shepherd Neame pub, tied to Kent's largest and Britain's oldest brewery. Beers include good selection of cask conditioned and keg ales along with an international selection of draft and bottled lagers.

The brewer's own seasonal ales, rich with local Kent and imported hops, include:

• Kents Best
• Early Bird Spring Hop Ale
• Goldings Summer Hop Ale
• Late Red Autumn Hop Ale
• Whitstable Bay Organic Ale

Draft lagers include Orangeboom Pilsener, Hurlimann Sternbrau, Holsten Export. Samuel Adams Boston Lager is among the bottled beers available and there is a good selection of European and New World wines available by the glass or bottle.

To Eat

Both the lunch and dinner menus include nine starters mixing the comfortingly familiar - soup of the day with bread and butter, chicken liver pate with toast - to the slightly more adventurous - garlic and herb crusted mussels, warm chilli beef salad.

Mains at lunch include steaks, burgers and a good choice of nicely done pub dishes - ham, egg and chips; cheese, ham or sausage ploughman's, fish and chips. There are other fish choices such as salmon and haddock fishcake filled with lemon and herb butter, fillet of sea bass with crushed minted new potatoes and a coriander sauce, and seafood platter combinations. Vegetarians can choose roast butternut squash, spinach and walnut tart; open vegetarian lasange with vegetable ratatouille, or Greek Salad.

Mains at dinner are more formal, with roast duck, belly of pork with smoked cheddar mash and apple puree, and stuffed chicken breast with cider, cream and mustard joining steaks, fish and vegetarian dishes.

Among the 19 main courses on the Sunday Lunch menu were three different roasts, a pasta dish and steak and kidney pudding.

To Get There

The George & Dragon English pub is about 30 miles southeast of London, via the M20 and the A25. It is located on the A227, halfway between Sevenoaks and Borough Green.

Trains from London Victoria to Borough Green & Wrotham Rail Station, about a mile away, take about 40 minutes and leave half hourly through the day. Check National Rail Enquiries for train times and prices.

Arriva Kent Thameside Bus, route 308, towards Sevenoaks, takes about six minutes between the rail station and the George & Dragon.

In good weather, it is also pretty easy to walk the 1.25 miles from the station to the pub. View the walking route on a map.

The Bottom Line

Though booking is recommended, my friend and I happened upon the George & Dragon by happy accident and were able to get a table for Sunday lunch. Service was fast and attentive and the food was generously proportioned, fresh and tasty. We shared an enormous seafood platter with Scottish smoked salmon, fresh mussels, prawns, lemon mayonnaise and granary bread. I tried the Sunday treat of roast pork with chipolata sausage, crackling, loads of vegetables and spuds. My companion's warm bacon and avocado salad, with cherry tomatoes, peppers, onions and honey mustard dressing. With large glasses of wine, coffee and tip we spent less than £40.