You’ll spot the Druid’s Head right ahead with its striking half-timbered black and white upper front, golden letters, and a row of bikes resting against the old red-brick lower wall-just look for those windows with plants hanging above!
Now, as you stand outside the oldest surviving pub in Kingston, try to imagine the clatter of horses' hooves and the laughter spilling out from what was once not one, but two pubs: The Druid and The Hog’s Head, side by side, stubborn rivals until they finally joined forces in the 1980s. Step back in time: it’s the 1700s, the glow of lanterns inside flickering above mugs of ale, travelers stomping the mud from their boots after a day’s ride, and the smell of roasting meat drifting on the air. The Druid’s Head was a real hotspot-think of famed writers like Charles Dickens and Jerome K. Jerome walking right through that door. Jerome found the upstairs window so inspiring that he scratched a secret message into the glass-imagine finding that after a drink or two! Even today, inside, you’ll see the elegant old staircase and ornamental ceilings that would have sparked many stories over the centuries. So next time someone asks if you’ve been where both Dickens and Jerome left their mark, you can say, “Why yes, I’ve stood exactly where legends and laughter cross paths-at the Druid’s Head!”
