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Fish & Chips Taste Better at the Seaside
It’s official. In February 2011 Charles Spence, Professor
of Experimental Psychology at Oxford University,
announced that fish & chips taste better when you eat
them at the seaside! So on Doctor’s Orders we
thoroughly recommend signing up for one (or both!)
of our seaside fish & chip specials. It is essential touring
for the mental well being of your members.
The Pilot Inn, Dungeness
was originally built from the timbers of the shipwrecked
Alfresia in 1633. It moved to its current site in 1958.
Historically pilots would board a ship at the request of
its Captain to navigate it safely around the hazardous
shingle point of Dungeness.
Fish & chips were first introduced at The Pilot by
landlady Margaret King back in 1981. Margaret and her
husband Len had pubs in London and when they first
took on the then struggling Pilot Inn they bought a small
fryer and started doing fish & chips. They never looked
back. The success of their fish & chips brought them
customers from all over the country. When the current
landlady, Sue Perry, bought the pub in 2008 she knew
the pressure was on to maintain the high standard and
reputation of The Pilot. A tall order for a first time
publican fresh from an IT job and her Fireman husband
Aaron. But she wasn’t completely wet behind the ears
having been raised in fish & chip shops so the first thing
that she did was to install new fryers. Sue says “the
previous fryers were 25 years old and were struggling to
cope in very busy times. I looked around and decided to
buy a new top of the range Florigo fryer. It cost over
£50,000 but as it formed the heartbeat of the business
I knew it was the soundest investment I would ever
make.” I took the photograph of The Pilot’s all singing
all dancing fish & chip range to the right when it was
in full swing on a busy lunchtime and as a former
Environmental Health Officer I was very impressed
by the grease free surfaces. Sue runs a tight ship.
In all the time we have taken groups for lunch here
she has never let us down. The fish & chips are fresh,
excellent and delicious every single time.
On our Rye & The Romney Marsh tour we start in the
Wealden town of Tenterden so as to fully appreciate
the change of landscape as we enjoy a drive across the
Marsh stopping to visit one of the famous Marsh
churches. After lunch at The Pilot we visit either the
Sussex hill top town of Rye or the little Cinque Port of
Hythe which is in Kent. It’s a great trip for this
summer or autumn. Read more by clicking