The Standard Inn

Opened less than a decade ago by Tim Brown, this Rye pub with rooms – does what all good inns should do: it serves good food and has comfy rooms, and offers good cheer and a welcome as soon as you walk through the door Basically a a successful revamp of what was a rather tired but popular old pub, they’ve retained the affection of the local drinkers while heaving the place into the 21st century.

The pub has five creaky beamed rooms, each named after a local port, which are comfortable without being posh – indeed, much like the food, the rooms deliver on pretty much every front without really shouting about it, with Freeview TVs, tea and coffee-making facilities and complimentary bottles of mineral water, decent wifi and comfy beds. They are simply furnished with antiques and bric-a-brac that are not only in tune with the building but also with Rye itself, which is stuffed full of places selling this sort of stuff.

Downstairs, the service also was as affable and efficient then as it is now, even at busy times.They don’t take bookings for food, even for residents, but it’s no hardship to have a pint or two you wait, which you will almost certainly have to do on a weekend night or during the summer. They fit a seasonally changing menu and a wine list on one A4 sheet and serve it in both the front bar and a more restauranty area at the back. They serve delicious homemade bar snacks,  pub classics and 4usually a handful of slightly more adventurous dishes, often featuring local salt marsh lamb or fish and seafood.  Breakfast is served in the front bar and is like the rest of the food, simple and delicious and largely made from local ingredients.

Finally the location couldn’t be better, right in the centre of Rye, which is probably the best-preserved of the old Cinque Ports of Kent and Sussex, and is worth a visit not only for itself but also for its closeness to Camber Sands, a short drive away across the marshes, and the pretty hilltop village of Winchelsea, where the churchyard famously holds the grave of local resident Spike Milligan.