Kent’s ‘best destination pub’ with stunning garden shares its secret to success

Having finally netted a prestigious award after multiple years in the running, the owners of a popular Kent pub have now given an insight into their secret to success. At the start of May, Muddy Stilettos announced its 2024 winners for their annual regional Muddy awards, with numerous brilliant independent businesses from around the Garden of England recognised.

This year saw 105 finalists from around Kent competing to land themselves one of these accolades, with categories ranging from Best Cafe and Best Restaurant to Best Hair Salon and Best Lifestyle Store. Taking home the gold for the hotly contested Best Destination Pub award was The Dove found in the quaint village of Dargate between Faversham and Whitstable, a charming countryside boozer that has fast become one of the county’s most celebrated.

Business partners Sophie Webb and William Shenow-Brady took over the pub in 2018, having given The Dove and its garden a huge refurb before relaunching. Talking about the recent award win, Sophie said: “‘It was amazing. We’ve been in the Muddy Stilettos finals for the last couple of years, but we’ve never won so we weren’t expecting to.

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“We all put a lot of hard work in and Muddy Stilettos are just getting bigger and bigger each year, so to win is just absolutely fantastic and really rewarding.” All of the regional winners will now go forward to the National Muddy Awards, with the winners to be revealed on July 11.

“We're there with some really amazing places up in the nationals so it’s just amazing to get into that as well”, Sophie added. “Even if we don’t win, it’s a great achievement just to get that far. It’s been a hard six years but every year we seem to go from strength to strength.

"COVID hit not long after we first re-opened so that was a couple of years that were really up and down. Each year since then we just seem to be getting busier and busier, which is fantastic. It’s hard work but we love it.” Muddy Stilettos are not the only ones to have sung the praises of this Kent pub either.

Earlier this year Tom Parker Bowles, son of Britain's Queen Camilla and acclaimed food writer, ranked his choices for the 50 cosiest pubs from across the nation, and The Dove made the cut. Tom described it as a "neat, pretty boozer", and highlighted its wood-fired stove, wooden bar and selection of Kentish ales among its notable features.

Having also previously been named Shepherd Neame’s Best Food Pub of the Year in 2019, Sophie has now revealed the pub’s key steps to success. She explained: “We always pride ourselves in our customer service. We take a lot of time to get to know our customers and where we are a small team, we really know all the regular customers that come in and try to keep as close to them as possible.

“We get a good healthy mix of local regulars and visitors, especially when summer comes around, we get a lot of visitors coming down from London. There are probably about six Airbnbs within a five-minute walk from us as well which is definitely an attraction to bring people here.

“The location is beautiful out here in the countryside and we’ve got an amazing garden as well so in the summer we make the most of the nice weather and do a lot of live music and barbecues.” Of course, another huge factor that has contributed to the pub’s success is its award-winning food.

Will mans the kitchen, utilising high quality, local ingredients to create unique menus that suit a range of tastes, while ensuring vegetarians and vegans are also catered for. “We rewrite our menus and change them around every six weeks so we keep up with seasonal produce,” Sophie added.

“It’s good then as we get a lot of repeat customers, so when they come in they don’t always know what they’re going to have. It keeps everything fresh and changing.” The pub operates a set lunch menu every Thursday, Friday and Saturday, an a la carte menu every day and offers roasts on Sunday.

On the current menus, Sophie recommends the crab tacos, breadcrumbed hake fillet and smoked pork belly. Reflecting on their journey over the last six years, Sophie had some words of wisdom for others working in the industry.

She said: “Just stick to what you know, don’t try and be something that you’re not and keep working hard. I definitely think that having a great customer relationship is always fantastic. We get a lot of lovely reviews on TripAdvisor talking about the service and the staffing being friendly and caring about the customers rather than seeing them as just another seat taken.”

Further information about The Dove, including their exciting summer plans for live music and barbecues, as well as full menu details, can be found here.

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