Best Pubs in Canterbury: Where to Drink and Eat

How to choose a Canterbury pub

Start with the decision you are actually making. If you have an hour between the cathedral and the shops, a High Street pub wins on location alone; if the pub is the main event, a short trip out gives you a garden, a longer menu and less elbow work. Canterbury rewards that split because the centre is so compact and the surrounding villages are close enough for a bus or a lift.

The second decision is food. A pub that serves fish and chips and handmade pies at lunchtime is a different proposition from one built around a seasonal à la carte and a Sunday roast, and the two suit different appetites and budgets. Check the kitchen times before you commit to a mealtime, because serving hours are often narrower than bar hours, especially on Sundays and Mondays.

City-centre pints: The Cricketers on the High Street

The Cricketers is a traditional English pub on the busy High Street in the centre of Canterbury, and it leans into that position rather than fighting it. There is outside seating on the street for watching the crowd go past, and a courtyard garden at the back for when the front is too much. In winter a wood-burning stove gives the inside a reason to linger.

For drinking, the pub serves what it describes as good local ales along with beers and wines by the glass or bottle, which makes it a sensible first stop for anyone wanting Kentish beer without leaving the centre. For eating, the menu is built on pub classics, with fish and chips named as the best seller and handmade pies served with mash and gravy. That is exactly the sort of food you want after a morning on your feet.

Treat it as the practical option rather than the destination. It is the pub you use when you want a plate of something familiar, a local pint and a seat, and the High Street location means you can fold it into a day of mooching without a detour. The trade-off is the street itself: busy, tourist-heavy and not somewhere for a quiet conversation at peak times.

The historic end of the scale: Ye Olde Yew Tree Inn, Westbere

Ye Olde Yew Tree Inn sits in the village of Westbere, on Westbere Lane, about four miles from Canterbury and beside a 200-acre lake. The pub presents itself as the oldest pub in Kent and dates its building to 1348, a claim to take as the pub's own rather than gospel; it also describes the building as Grade II listed. Either way, it is the pub to choose when you want beams, a story and a view over water with your pint.

The kitchen runs a seasonal à la carte, small plates and refined pub classics alongside pizzas from the oven, and Sunday roasts are the headline. The pub is dog-friendly, which matters if you are walking the lake path, and it runs quiz nights, live music and a monthly dog walk. Portions and cooking are what its own copy pushes hardest, so come hungry rather than for a nibble.

The catch is the journey and the timetable. The pub's published hours close the bar and kitchen on Tuesdays, with shorter Monday and weekday sessions than Friday and Saturday, so a Tuesday plan needs a rethink. Book ahead for Sunday lunch and check the day's serving times before you set out, because a four-mile trip that ends at a closed door is a poor use of an afternoon.

Which one for a sit-down meal, and which for a quick pint

Choose Ye Olde Yew Tree when food is the point of the trip: a long lunch, a roast, or a table with a group where you want starters, mains and a pud without feeling rushed. Choose The Cricketers when the pub is a pause rather than a plan, and a pint with fish and chips or a pie is enough. The first rewards booking and a bit of travel; the second rewards turning up.

If you are weighing up more than these two for eating, our guide to the best pub food Canterbury has to offer covers the wider choice by dish and occasion. It is worth reading before you book, because a pub that is perfect for a pint at four in the afternoon can be the wrong room for a three-course dinner at seven.

Sunday lunch: book ahead and mind the kitchen

Sunday is the one day where a Canterbury pub trip needs a plan rather than a whim. Roasts are served in a tight window, tables go to people who booked, and the kitchen often stops earlier than the bar; at Westbere the pub lists Sunday kitchen service as ending mid-afternoon. If a roast is the reason for the journey, phone or book online first and ask what time the kitchen takes its last order.

The same discipline applies in the city. A High Street pub on a Sunday fills with shoppers and day-trippers, so arriving at half past one without a table is a gamble. Decide whether you want the roast or just a drink, then pick the pub to match; our Sunday Roast in Canterbury guide lays out the options if you want to compare before committing.

Gardens, courtyards and a long afternoon

The Cricketers gives you two outdoor moods in one pub: pavement seating at the front for people-watching and a courtyard garden behind for something calmer. Ye Olde Yew Tree gives you the bigger setting, with the lake and the village lanes to walk off lunch. For a group that wants to spread out over an afternoon, Westbere is the better shape of day; for a couple of hours in the middle of sightseeing, the High Street courtyard does the job.

Plan around the weather rather than against it. A courtyard garden is pleasant in a shower if there is a stove inside to retreat to, which is how The Cricketers covers both seasons. At Westbere the draw is the lake and the walk, so a wet afternoon takes more off the experience. If outdoor drinking is central to your day, compare gardens first and pick the pub second.

Real ale and local beer: where to start

Canterbury's pubs trade on Kentish beer, and The Cricketers is explicit about serving local ales alongside its other beers. That makes it the easy entry point if you want a pint of something brewed nearby without hunting for a specialist taproom. Ask what is on and where it is from; a good pub will tell you the brewery without being asked twice.

If beer is the main interest rather than a side note, it is worth looking at the wider brewery scene around the city before you settle on one bar. Our Canterbury brewery guide covers the local producers and where their beer turns up. Build the day around a couple of pubs with a walk between them rather than one long session at a single bar.

Where each pub sits and how it changes your day

The Cricketers is on Canterbury High Street, which puts it within a few minutes of the cathedral quarter and the main shopping streets; you can tack it onto a morning of wandering without planning transport. Ye Olde Yew Tree is at 32 Westbere Lane, Westbere, roughly four miles from the city, so it needs a bus, a taxi or a designated driver. Decide which of those you are before you build the day around lunch.

The two halves of the day work well together if you are organised. Do the centre on foot, then move out to Westbere for a late lunch and a walk by the lake, or reverse it and come back into town for the evening. What does not work is assuming the village pub is a stroll from the centre; it is a short trip, not a walk between sights.

Matching the pub to the occasion

Solo or a couple with an hour to spare: The Cricketers, a local ale and a seat outside if the weather allows. Couple's dinner or a celebration lunch: Ye Olde Yew Tree, booked, with the roast or the seasonal menu and time to sit. Family lunch: either, though the Westbere garden and lake give children more room, and the pub is dog-friendly for the walk afterwards.

A walking group should go straight to Westbere, where the lake path and the monthly dog walk give the outing a shape beyond the table. A group that wants a quick pint between shops should stay central. If you are comparing Canterbury with other cathedral cities for a similar day out, our guide to the best pubs in Cambridge is a useful benchmark for how compact centres and out-of-town pubs compare.

Practical points before you go

Book for Sunday lunch and for any group larger than four, and check the kitchen times rather than the bar times on the day you plan to eat. Westbere closes on Tuesdays according to the pub's own listing, and its weekday sessions are shorter than weekend ones, so a midweek trip needs checking first. Serving times at The Cricketers are not published on its site, so call ahead or check before you rely on it for a mealtime; a busy High Street lunchtime can still mean a wait for a table.

Dogs are welcome at Ye Olde Yew Tree, and the lakeside lanes make it a natural stop on a walk. For families, a village pub with a garden is easier to manage than a packed High Street frontage — but confirm child policy at either pub before you go. For opening times, menus and events, go to the pubs' own sites rather than relying on a third-party listing.

Which Canterbury pub should you book?

Book Ye Olde Yew Tree if you want the pub to be the day: a roast or seasonal lunch, a lake to walk off afterwards, and a bit of history in the walls. Stay with The Cricketers if you want a local pint and fish and chips in the middle of the city without rearranging your afternoon. Neither needs a long justification, which is the point of a compact city with a good village pub on its doorstep.

Whichever you choose, confirm the kitchen hours and book if you are eating on a Sunday, and check how you are getting to Westbere before you set off. If your plans stretch beyond Canterbury, the best pubs in Birmingham guide shows how the same decisions play out in a bigger city.