Northern Belle, Margate

Tucked away up an alley near the seafront this is Margate's oldest pub having been converted from two cottages in 1680. It claims one of the davits on the counter and timbers on the ceiling are from the Northern Belle, an American transatlantic ship that sank near Margate. It has a crackin' public bar - L-shaped with bare wood floor, old dado (and some modern), a counter that looks old but painted black and a bar back that is not that old with only one fridge replacing some lower shelves. The good exterior windows 'Shepherd', 'Neame', 'Fine Ales' on one side and 'Margate's', 'Oldest', 'Pub' are mostly modern. The front left door leads to a small wood floor area with an old part glazed partition wall to the rear of the servery that reaches the ceiling with a doorway for staff, dado panelling looks modern and there is an old bench. A bare wood floored passage with old panelling leads to the rear room. Beyond the public bar and slightly opened-up is a small bare wood floored room with some old dado but lots of new wood, some good bench seating and some modern and a hatch to the side of the servery. Gents has two old Doulton urinals. The 2012 refurbishment carefully respected the original layout and fittings.