Nightlife in Maidstone

On Maidstone High Street, The Brenchley is a great all-rounder of a bar. There are a range of cask beers, a sun terrace, a wide range of wines, spirits and cocktails (including a daily happy hour) and stone-baked homemade pizza served oven-fresh every day until 7pm.

50m away is Bar Chocolate, one of the best cocktail joints in town. Choose from one of 50 cocktails from their action-packed menu, sign up for a cocktail-making masterclass or sit back in the lounge and watch the dancefloor fill up at the weekends.

Similarly, Social Chill Bar is another hot spot known for its cocktails, good music and regular parties that turn the bar into a full on club.

If that’s a little too high end for you, try Drakes. A cosy bar with giant Chesterfield sofas and views over the Medway, the food is excellent (the pizzas come highly recommended), and the informal wood and brick interior gives it a rustic, laid-back charm.

Finally, The Society Room is a modern, glass-fronted Wetherspoons pub near Maidstone East train station and a short walk from our Maidstone Town Centre hotel. The food is well-priced and plentiful, and they have a good range of guest beers as well as lager, cider, wines and spirits.

Starting with animal-themed pubs first, The Fox & Goose and Ye Olde Thirsty Pig are two of our favourite Maidstone pubs. Ye Olde Thirsty Pig, which dates back to 1480, is in the middle of the action on High Street and reputed to be the third-oldest building in Maidstone. As you’d expect, it uses its traditions well, offering a wide range of real ales, ciders, wines and spirits as well as a varied entertainment roster including quiz nights, guest DJs and their own jukebox.

Another historic watering hole, this time dating back to the 17th century, The Fox & Goose is another fantastically vintage pub known for its wide range of drinks, including a range of 13 gins, its excellent food and their sun terrace and beer garden.

If you’re staying at our Maidstone Seven Oaks hotel, make sure you stop in at The Moat for a pint and something to eat. A 14th-century barn equipped with a play area, log fire, oak beams and large beer garden, they stock a wide range of guest ales and excellent pub grub.

Virtually next door to our Maidstone Town Centre hotel, The Cellars Alehouse is a cracking basement microbrewery and pub, that makes its own real ales and ciders and lets the beer do the talking (there are no fruit machines, TV screens or guest DJs in here). They do however have a range of cards and board games, and a book exchange library, making this one of the more refined pubs in Maidstone.

Back on the High Street, The Bierkeller – as the name suggests – is a German-centric bar with rows and rows of pine tables and benches, a traditional Bierkeller show four nights a week and over 90 different beer brands on bottle and tap. Lastly, head out of Maidstone towards Sandling and head for The Yew Tree for a rural, rustic country pub with great food and drinks, including cask ales and a vast whiskey collection. If the sun is shining, grab a table in the gorgeous beer garden or head indoors to the pub built in 1782 and tuck into their excellent food menu (the Sunday roast is a dream). Plus, it’s only a short drive away from our Maidstone Allington hotel.

Open Wednesday, Friday and Saturday night, The Source is the leading nightclub in Maidstone, attracting global DJs most weekends playing a mix of urban, house music and RnB. Just around the corner from the Hazlitt Theatre on Rose Yard, the club opens until 6am on the weekends, with guest DJs like Ibiza regular Jamie Jones, Carl Cox and Annie Mac all regulars. Head to the main room for a more commercial sound, or discover a more alternative soundtrack out in the Courtyard.

If the Source is where music fans congregate, the nearby Gallery is where you go to be seen. Spread over two floors and three rooms, the club prides itself on the glitz and glamour – from the show-stopping chandelier to the 360 degrees VIP gallery and the grand staircase, it’s a seriously high-end venue. Music-wise, it caters to more commercial sounds including club classics, R&B and EDM with past guests including Tinie Tempah and Timbaland.