Blog ≫ 2023 ≫ Nice day mooching around Folkestone
As I dropped the boys to grandpa's for the day, Clare was going for a haircut so I had a few free hours. Left the car at grandpa's house and walked into Folkestone looking for something nice for lunch. I did quite a bit of walking, so glad my graphs are working again. I headed down to the Harbour Arm, but not everything is open down there at this time of year. I did go to the new Sicilian cafe in the signal box (which has replaced Bobbie's Bakehouse) and had a vegan lasagne and it was very good. We will all go back here I think.
I got a couple of christmas presents while I was wondering about and some of the kombucha drinks that I had in Dr Legumes that I had failed to find online. Some other vaguely interesting updates from around the town:
- The Punch And Judy has closed. Not sure what is going on there, it wasn't that busy, or that good actually, but the boys and I enjoyed the food in there.
- Tofts has reopened! Well sort of. There's a new cafe bar called Tofts in the spot where the original Tofts was, where Jimi Hendrix played. It wasn't open to I couldn't go in but will check it out.
- 9 Dragons Chinese takeway has more vegan options on its menu now, including vegan duck and vegan king prawns. This is the takeaway I used to use before Phoenix. I will give it another try.
- Marley's has moved to the bottom of the Old High Street, bigger premises, looked busy. No-one is in it's old spot yet higher up the street.
- Objectables card shop has moved again, this time into the old Earl Grey pub that had recently been Big Boys Burgers.
- The old pub that Clare's grandparents used to run is up for sale. It's not been open as a pub in my memory, but it has been running as a nursery for quite a while. It's closed and up for sale. I think I already knew this, but I took a picture as I was walking past.
Folkestone was generally looking nice today.
After I walked back to the car I went to Tesco to get some bits to make a chili later. Then Clare phoned and said she was done, do I fancy even more walking, into Sandgate and to the pub? Of course I do! We tried The Ship first but they had no real ale on, so left again. They have three pumps but they were all faced the other way, so run out. It looks ok in there though. Instead we went to Docker (which I will refer to as "what used to be the Inn Doors" for the last time here) and it was actually good. They had a choice of two real ales, I could only have one as I'd have to drive later. It was good, Seacrest Pale Ale, and not as expensive as I thought. It is cleaner and tidier in there now, less cluttered, but less character too. Looks quite neat, their lighting is good. They have lots of "filament" style bulbs and different heights hanging from the ceiling and they can turn them on in groups, it looks good. Then the lighting behind the bar also looked good as it got darker. My second pint was a disappointment. They had an alcohol free stout on draft, sounds good! But it was sour, must surely have been off, I sent it back. So that's two visits and two returned pints, not a great hit rate.
Collected the boys, roasted some veges in the Ninja to go in a sandwich for tea and we all watched Johnny English Strikes Again, and then I watched 24 Hour Party People after everyone else had gone to bed.