Welcome to The Phoenix
The Phoenix is situated on the corner of Old Dover Road and Cossington Road, between the County Cricket Ground and Canterbury city centre. A Free House, The Phoenix always endevours to stock eight real ales, including one mild. Food is available lunchtimes and evenings, there is outdoor seating on our beer terrace, a covered smoking area and a patron's car park to the side.
Bob & Nilla Griffiths are now the licensees, having also been running the Rose & Crown in St.Dunstans for over three years and now transferring their attentions to The Phoenix. While both now are retired, Bob was previously in medical sales whilst Nilla ran two hairdressing salons. Last owning pubs thirty-four years ago in Rochester, including The Don Cossack, they now turn their attentions and fondness of real ale to one of Canterbury's best known hostelries, well loved amongst cricket fans, visitors to the city and locals alike.
Bob's family were in Pubs all his life and he learnt his cellar skills from his step father who apart from being a Licensee had also been a dray man for twenty-five years, and so there was nothing you could tell him about beer, (one quote being "there are no such thing as bad beers, just some better than others").
Featured ales this month - January
Fuller's "London Pride" : (ABV 4.1%)
“astonishly complex . . . ”
Fuller’s London Pride is an award-winning classic. A rich, smooth and wonderfully balanced beer, its distinctive malty base is complemented by well developed hop character, created by adding Target, Challenger and Northdown varieties to the brew. Described by leading beer writer Roger Protz as “an astonishingly complex ale for its strength”, its flavour has been likened by Stephen Cox, beer writer and former campaigns director at CAMRA, to “the sensation of angels dancing on the tongue” !
London Pride, Fuller's flagship beer, was crowned the Supreme Champion at the 2000 International Beer and Cider competition. London Pride was named Champion Best Bitter at the CAMRA Great British Beer Festival in 1995, and in 1979 when it also achieved the ultimate accolade of Beer of the Year.
Dartmoor Best Bitter : (ABV 3.5%)
“ideal pint to enjoy with a crusty Ploughman’s lunch”
The St.Austell Brewery was founded in 1851 by Walter Hicks, who mortgaged his farm for £1,500 to set up his business in St Austell. In 2001, they celebrated their 150th Anniversary and from them comes their Dartmoor Best Bitter, an amber, chestnut coloured ale with an aroma of barleysugar and a taste apparently considered by some of being reminiscent of 'toffee apples and spicy hops'.
Described as : '... a beer with a strong regional heritage, Dartmoor, although now brewed in Cornwall still has its roots firmly in Devon. Dartmoor is a fine, easy drinking session ale with a touch of bitterness, complemented by a smooth malty finish. An Ideal pint to enjoy with a crusty Ploughman’s lunch'.
