Better declare my prejudices here before we start. In the humble opinion of this author Margate is a festering boil tacked onto the arse of England. It's a seedy run-down tip with no discernable merit whatsoever. The best to be said in its favour is that it's not easy to get to. Last time there the main feature at the laughingly named Leisure Park was some scrap metal revolving globe thing that originated from the Vienna of the late thirties, and had the Nazi insignia badly scratched out. The food was 'British Seaside' at its worst, the pubs had as much atmosphere as the moon, and there was not a decent pint for miles. Those trapped in this Gormanghast of a town shuffled and snuffled disconsolately along the sea-front, eyes down-cast, as the life-force was sucked from their bloated bodies. Edvard Munch spent an afternoon in Margate before painting The Scream. Fortunately, we're going to Dover! So.....
Club Bar :
Dover's club bar is situated inside the ground, to the right of the main turnstiles, and
is a flat, single level hut with a long room. The bar contains a good pool table, and
service is friendly. The entrance furthest from the actual bar itself, in theory lends
itself well for disabled access, although this needs to be put into practice to be certain.
There is no membership charge for entry. One of the beauties of
Dover's bar is that it's large windows look directly out onto the side terrace, and the
bar does not shut during games, meaning that it is quite possible to sit in the bar for
the entire duration of the game without losing too much view of what is going on in the
game. Not that we've ever tried this; oh no, not us!
Queuing for a pint, in our experience, has been in general not too bad, probably
because people do start heading to the bar before the half time and full time whistles
blow, knowing that they will miss little of the action. Their television in the bar
usually features all the final scores and ceefax is available.
Tea bar food is on the whole good, although we've found service a little slow. The main
tea bar is just to the right of the drinks bar.
Local Pubs
If you choose to take the long walk from Dover Priory station, up London Road and
Crabble Hill, there is a veritable feast of pubs awaiting you between the
station and
the ground. The annoying thing is that they are all rather too average but
somewhere there may be a gem, so let us know if you spot one!
You pass all of these if you are driving to the ground from the A20, coming out
of the town centre. Note that if you are driving back from the ground, into the Town Centre,
you will not pass the London Road pubs, due to the one-way system.
The Priory Hotel can to be tentatively recommended in the afternoon, and
is a good place to meet if you are waiting for someone to get
off a train. Not much in the way of real ale - in fact for our
visit two years ago they were all off :-( -, but a reasonable
atmosphere, if a little over-smokey (when you're sat next to HHH anyway). Under new management when we called in for a final pint to eek out the tinnies whilst waiting for the train home last season we'd just say the welcome was er less than cordial, though of course we were verra verra drunk.
Still close to the station, running about five or ten minutes walk east,
is the Eight Bells. It's a Wetherspoons pub. Given that the Wetherspoons chain is normally of a consistent standard, this was whereCiderspace ended up for a pre-match half - or 10 when we found Spitfire at £ 1.29 a pint.
Once you near the ground, The Gate Inn
(pictured) can be found on your right hand side. Quite frankly, do us a favour and
give this one a wide berth. They used to, in years gone by, serve
the Shepherd Neame real ales made by the local brewery in Faversham. Now it appears
to be a diet of fizzy shit, and the sort of clientele that turn around, stare at you
as the place goes quiet when you wander in. Don't stay, we didn't!
The nearest bar is
The Cricketers (also pictured), which sits appropriately enough, at the foot of the
cricket ground, just before you head off Lewisham Road up to the football ground. It looks
to be a very quaint pub from the outside, but is furnished with a pool table in the left
hand bar once you get inside, and is a fairly down to earth relaxed place.
When we went in there the season before last (January 2000) their food service was completely up
the proverbial. Their deep fat friers were up the spout, their cheese burgers had run
out of ... err, cheese, and were served undercooked inside stale bread rolls without any salad or
relish. Mmmm, nice! Apparently, it was a bad day for them. Whether you believe that or
not is your own choice. Let's put it this way - we've eaten elsewhere since!
You'll find that few or none of these pubs go to much lengths for their food; there's
just too many Fish and Chips, Chinese and Indian takeaways on London Road, that if you are
getting peckish, your best bet is one of the takeaways or the club tea bars. The
tea bars tend to be a little bit packed, although whether that was down to the largish
crowd, or everyone piling out of the Cricketers in search of decent quality food, we're
not rightly sure.
Priory Hotel, Priory Station Approach, Dover, Kent, CT17 9SB Tel: 01304 211365
Eight Bells, 19, Cannon St, Dover, Kent, CT16 1BZ Tel: 01304 205030
The Sportsman, 238 London Rd, Dover Kent, CT17 0TA Tel: 01304 208411
The Bull Inn, 168 London Rd, Dover Kent CT17 0TG Tel: 01304 204500
The Old Endeavour, 124, London Rd, Dover, Kent, CT17 0TG Tel: 01304 204417
The Gate Inn, 79, Crabble Hill, Dover, Kent, CT17 0RY Tel: 01304 206121
The Cricketers, Crabble Avenue, Dover, Kent, CT17 0JB Tel: 01304 206396
Likelihood the Natives Will Understand You :
Remote. Everyone you are likely to meet in Margate was either over seventy-five before they arrived or has become so within a few hours of getting there. All right dear - cup of tea and a bun?
Top-Tip :
Leave as soon as possible.
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Dover's ground is two or three miles outside Dover Town Centre, on the North West
side of town, in an area called River. Unless you are coming from Canterbury, the best
way to reach it is from Dover Town Centre, doing up a long suburban hill known as London
Road, part of a huge one-way system. London Road eventually turns into Crabble Hill, you
come out of the one-way system, and at that point you are nearly there.
River and The Crabble are signposted from the top of the hill.
