The Little Gem pub in Aylesford has quietly reopened after being closed for ten years.

The tiny building dates from 1106 which is fourteen years before the birth of Thomas Becket. Prior to becoming a pub in 1968 it was a cafe. It is now Kent’s smallest pub.

Today the PW almost passes the door as it turns up Mount Pleasant from the church.

Maidstone brewer Goacher’s stepped in to save the pub which according to the Kent Messenger has ‘no pool table, no darts, no fairy lights, no jukebox, no TV screen, no games, and above all, no pretension at all’.

The inglenook fireplace is ready for a log fire in winter.