Pub Heritage Old House
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Kent - Ightham Common
Three star - A pub interior of exceptional national historic importance
Listed Status: II
Redwell LaneIghtham Common
TN15 9EE
OS ref: TQ590558
Tel: (01732) 886077
Website http://www.oldhouse.pub
Real Ale: Yes
Real Cider: Yes
View on: Whatpub
A wonderful but hard-to-find country pub (the signage long gone). It probably started as a couple ofseventeenth-century cottages which were pressed into service as a beerhouse in the mid nineteenth century. A full licence was only acquired in 1953. The pub was extended to its present size in 1888. The new work lies to the right and the change in the lower walling between the two windows left of the entrance tells of this, as does the difference in ceiling treatment within the main bar (boarded left, plastered and papered right). On entry you face a small off-sales compartment with its own small counter, and on the left is the main bar with its mightily impressive inglenook fireplace. The floor is of wood blocks and the counter has a tapering, wooden front. The date of these is hard to gauge and may be twentieth-century rather than Victorian. There is also a right-hand room formed in 1888 and which is served through a hatch created, perhaps, in the 1970s. All beer and cider is fetched from the ground-floor cellar. The pub offers some 200 whiskies.
The Old House is a hard-to-find unspoilt pub with a simple two-bar interior. It is situated south of Ightham village - Redwell Lane runs between Ismays Road and Common Road. This brick and tile-hung building, partly seventeenth-century (left), partly nineteenth century (right) has no pub sign and the signboard on the right gable has faded beyond recognition! First licensed as a beerhouse in 1872 it didn't obtain a full licence until 1953. The entrance lobby has a parquet floor and a door leads into a tiny off-sales with a Victorian counter running across half of the rear section of the room with shelving left and right.
The main bar is to the left has a beamed and boarded ceiling on the left and plainer one on the right, the latter being evidence of the pub being extended to the right in 1888. It has a panelled counter and bar back of shelves on a mirrored backing The huge brick inglenook fireplace was unveiled by the present owners - previously there was a Victorian tiled fireplace in front of it; it has a log fire and beamed ceiling. The parquet floor was exposed by removing the carpet in 2010. The dating of the fittings and floor is difficult and they may well date from the 20th century rather than having great age.
The right-hand room is known as the saloon. An opening was created (in the 1970s) between the lounge and the off-sales to create a service hatch (and a door alongside it was blocked up).
Beer and cider is fetched from the cellar. Some 200 whiskies are on offer.
May close early if no customers.
Full Description
The right-hand room is known as the saloon. An opening was created (in the 1970s) between the lounge and the off-sales to create a service hatch (and a door alongside it was blocked up).
Beer and cider is fetched from the cellar. Some 200 whiskies are on offer.
May close early if no customers.
