| If you are looking to go out for a drink in Kent | | | | with nearly 200 occurrences. Common examples |
| then you certainly have a considerable number of | | | | are The Bull Inn, The George Inn, The Bell Inn and |
| options. There are over 1700 pubs, bars and inns | | | | The Chequers Inn. Less commonly we have Old |
| in Kent offering a diverse range of drinking | | | | Eden Inn, Man of Kent Inn, Britannia Inn, Junction |
| experience. Also as diverse is the range of | | | | Inn and Muggleton Inn to name but a few. |
| interesting names given to the public houses | | | | "Arms", is the next most common word to occur |
| across Kent and this article aims to discuss some | | | | in pub names in Kent, with such names as The |
| of those. | | | | Kings Arms, The Foresters Arms, The Coopers |
| First of all lets look at the spread of pubs | | | | Arms, Port Arms Inn, Fruiterers Arms, Town |
| throughout Kent. As you would expect the | | | | Arms and The Colyer Arms. There are 106 pubs |
| majority of pubs are found in the major | | | | across Kent with Arms in the name. |
| conurbations, with scatterings of pubs throughout | | | | There are 43 pubs contain the word "Tavern" in |
| the villages. | | | | their name, such as The Railway Tavern The Vale |
| Looking at the leader board we can see that | | | | Tavern, Darenth Tavern and The Park Tavern |
| Maidstone has 132 pubs | | | | 33 pubs contain the word "of " in their name, |
| Canterbury has 124 pubs | | | | examples of this are The Prince of Wales, The |
| Rochester has 97 pubs | | | | Man of Kent, City of London, Duke of Kent, |
| Ashford has 87 pubs | | | | Beauty of Bath, Sovereign of the Seas and |
| Gravesend has 87 pubs | | | | Heights of Alma |
| Sevenoaks has 77 pubs | | | | Also 33 pubs contain the word House in their |
| Tonbridge has 71 pubs | | | | namee.g. The Old House At Home, The Albert |
| Dover has 66 pubs | | | | Public House, The Halfway House and Red House |
| Ramsgate has 64 pubs | | | | 28 pubs are horse related, which is unsurprising as |
| Dartford has 61 pubs | | | | most pubs were originally coaching inns. Horses |
| Gillingham has 60 pubs | | | | are usually White, Black or Olde, but can also be |
| So, onto the names. The most popular name for | | | | Hungry or Flying. Other Horse related pub names |
| pubs in Kent is "The Royal Oak". There are Royal | | | | in Kent include The Horse Groom,Sea Horse and |
| Oak pubs in Ashford, Bexleyheath, Canterbury, | | | | the Three Horse Shoes. |
| Dartford, Dover, Edenbridge, Folkestone, Herne | | | | There are 26 pubs contain the word Head in their |
| Bay, Romney Marsh, Sevenoaks and Tunbridge | | | | name |
| Wells. Some places even have 2 Royal Oaks, and | | | | The Kings Head, The Queens Head, The Dukes |
| in total there are 19. Next most popular is the | | | | Head, Elephants Head, The Bulls Head, The Nags |
| Red Lion, with 15 spread across the county and | | | | Head, Rodney's Head, Hogs Head, The Leopards |
| then the Kings Head, The Bull Inn and The | | | | Head, The Buffalo's Head, The Griffins Head, The |
| Chequers Inn. The Bell Inn, The George Inn and | | | | Druids Head, Stags Head, Monks Head Public |
| The Wheatsheaf are also popular names. | | | | House, The Saracens Head, The Tigers Head |
| Some of the less common names we have | | | | There are 22 pubs contain the word Bar in their |
| The Abergavenny Arms, Tunbridge Wells, | | | | name, which shows growing number of trendy |
| originally called The Bull, but renamed in 1823 in | | | | bars catering for a more youthful clientèle. |
| honour of Lord Abergavenny who owned the | | | | Examples are O Neill s Irish Bar, Bar Coast, |
| property at the time. | | | | Harbour St Bar, Bar Vasa, Sloanes Bar |
| The Barge, Gillingham, once stables for Admiralty | | | | Finally 21 pubs contain the word Old or Olde in |
| offices, then fishermen's cottages and then a pub | | | | their name. |
| called The Cricketers. It was renamed in 1991. | | | | The Old House At Home, The Olde Lantern Inn, |
| The Cat Custard Pot in Paddlesworth, which used | | | | The Old Ship, The Olde Coach Horses. |
| to be called the Red Lion, but when a new sign | | | | So there you have it. Kent is an excellent place to |
| was required many years ago the artist drew | | | | go out drinking you should easily be able to find |
| something which more resembled a cat. | | | | something to suit your mood. Now, if you'll excuse |
| Looking deeper within the names we can see that | | | | me I'm off to the Nordenfeldt Tavern for a quick |
| in Kent the most common type of pub is the Inn, | | | | one. |