Best Pubs & Restaurants for Outdoor Dining in Kent

There are plenty of pubs and restaurants in Kent with a few tables outside, but the county’s best alfresco dining spots offer something more. Here, the setting becomes part of the meal: a riverside terrace beside the Stour, a table overlooking Folkestone Harbour, lunch beneath the White Cliffs or a long afternoon surrounded by gardens and Kent countryside.

The right choice depends on the kind of outdoor meal you have in mind. Some of these places are ideal for a special lunch or dinner, while others are made for families, groups and afternoons that begin with food and end several drinks later. As ever with British weather, outdoor spaces can be seasonal or weather dependent, so it is worth checking whether tables can be reserved outside before making a special journey.

The Fordwich Arms, Fordwich

The Fordwich Arms has one of the most appealing riverside settings in Kent. The historic pub sits beside the River Stour in the tiny town of Fordwich, with a wisteria-covered terrace that comes into its own during the warmer months. Sitting outside here feels remarkably peaceful, with the water immediately beyond the tables and the surrounding village adding to the sense that you have escaped somewhere much further from Canterbury than you actually have.

The food is considerably more ambitious than the traditional pub exterior might suggest, with seasonal cooking built around carefully sourced ingredients and Kent produce where appropriate. Despite its reputation for serious dining, the building and riverside setting stop the experience from feeling excessively formal. On a sunny afternoon, the terrace gives you the best of both worlds: restaurant-level cooking in surroundings that still feel like a relaxed old Kent pub.

This is somewhere to plan rather than simply hope for an outside table when you arrive. If the weather is good and eating by the river is important to the occasion, check the terrace arrangements when booking.

Rocksalt, Folkestone

Few Kent restaurants make the view as central to the experience as Rocksalt. The building sits directly over Folkestone Harbour, with large windows and outdoor terraces looking across the water towards the Channel. On a bright day, the combination of boats below, open sea beyond and seafood arriving at the table gives the restaurant a strong sense of place without needing to overplay its coastal credentials.

The main restaurant terrace suits a proper lunch or dinner, while the first-floor area offers another elevated outdoor option for drinks. During the warmer part of the year, Rocksalt’s separate garden space on the harbour viaduct creates a looser atmosphere, with outdoor food and drinks making it particularly good for stretching a sunny afternoon into the evening.

Seafood naturally features prominently, alongside meat and seasonal produce from Kent and beyond. The different spaces mean you can approach Rocksalt in several ways: book a restaurant meal with a harbour view, stop for drinks overlooking the water or choose the more relaxed garden when it is operating. It is one of the better options in Kent when the view is every bit as important as what is on the plate.

THE PIG at Bridge Place

At THE PIG at Bridge Place, outdoor dining is closely connected to the way the kitchen works. The hotel and restaurant sit in countryside just outside Canterbury, with an extensive kitchen garden supplying vegetables, herbs and other produce that feed directly into the menus. Eating outside therefore feels less like a restaurant that has added a terrace and more like an extension of the garden itself.

The main restaurant offers terrace dining when conditions allow, while the warmer months can also bring a more relaxed style of eating around the Kitchen Garden. Wood-fired food, garden-led dishes and drinks using ingredients grown on site reinforce the connection between what surrounds you and what arrives at the table. The outdoor offering is seasonal, however, so specialist garden dining should always be checked before travelling rather than assumed to be available year-round.

This is particularly well suited to a long lunch when you have no desire to rush elsewhere afterwards. The gardens are part of the reason to come, and the slower pace suits a meal built around seasonal produce far better than trying to treat it as a quick restaurant stop on the way somewhere else.

Boys Hall, Ashford

Boys Hall combines a restored 17th-century house with several acres of grounds, giving its outdoor dining spaces a sense of occasion without feeling too formal. The main restaurant opens onto a terrace overlooking the gardens, while a separate courtyard serves the pub side of the property. That distinction gives diners a choice between a more restaurant-led outdoor meal and something looser over drinks and food in the courtyard.

The kitchen works closely with farmers, butchers and fishmongers from Kent and the surrounding region, with an Asado-style grill bringing fire and smoke into much of the cooking. It suits the setting: substantial dishes cooked over flame feel particularly at home outside against the backdrop of the old house, gardens and mature planting.

Boys Hall is a strong choice for celebrations and longer lunches where a standard pub garden feels too casual but a traditional hotel restaurant might feel overly polished. On a warm afternoon, you can eat outside and spend time around the gardens afterwards rather than feeling the meal ends the moment you leave the table.

The Coastguard, St Margaret’s Bay

The Coastguard occupies one of Kent’s most dramatic pub locations, sitting directly beside the sea at St Margaret’s Bay with the White Cliffs rising behind it. Outdoor tables look across the Channel, so on a clear day you can sit with lunch or a drink while boats pass through one of the world’s busiest shipping routes. Few Kent beer gardens have scenery on quite this scale.

The pub serves the sort of food that suits its location, with seafood featuring alongside familiar British pub dishes and ingredients sourced from Kent where possible. During summer, outdoor facilities can include a bar and barbecue, making the terrace and garden especially good for informal afternoons rather than simply restaurant-style dining outside.

It is also an excellent place to combine food with a walk. The surrounding coastline gives you several opportunities to explore before settling in for lunch, although the exposed position means the weather deserves some respect. A sunny inland afternoon can still feel cool and breezy beside the Channel, so an extra layer is rarely a bad idea even when eating outside.

The Duke William, Ickham

The Duke William delivers the classic country-pub version of alfresco dining particularly well. Set in the village of Ickham near Canterbury, it has a south-facing terrace for outdoor meals and a larger garden stretching behind the pub towards the Kent countryside. The atmosphere is much more relaxed than some of the destination restaurants on this list, which is exactly the point.

Tables on the terrace are better suited to settling down for lunch, while the garden gives families and groups more room to spread out. There is an outdoor bar during busier periods, planting and herb boxes soften the space, and children have room to play rather than being expected to remain beside the table throughout a long afternoon. Seasonal pub food and local drinks make it an easy place to stop after walking or exploring villages around this part of east Kent.

If your ideal outdoor meal involves a Sunday lunch, a bottle of wine and nowhere particularly urgent to be afterwards, this is the sort of place that does not require much more planning than finding a sunny day.

The Potting Shed, Langley

Near Maidstone, The Potting Shed works especially well when outdoor space matters more than formality. Its large garden gives families and groups plenty of room, with tables spread beyond the main building and a children’s play area allowing younger visitors to move around rather than spending an entire meal sitting still.

The food is firmly in relaxed pub territory, with a broad menu suited to anything from breakfast and lunch to an evening meal. The generous outdoor area makes it particularly useful for larger gatherings where squeezing everyone onto a small restaurant terrace would be impractical. Dogs are also part of the atmosphere in the appropriate areas, adding to the informal country-pub feel.

This is not somewhere to choose because you want an intimate tasting-menu experience. Its strength is the opposite: space, convenience and a garden designed to be used rather than simply looked at. For families around Maidstone, it is one of the easier places to turn lunch into several hours outdoors without needing to keep everyone confined to the table.

Which Kent Alfresco Dining Spot Should You Choose?

The Fordwich Arms is the choice for refined food beside the river, while Rocksalt delivers the strongest combination of restaurant dining and harbour views. THE PIG at Bridge Place is ideal when gardens, seasonal produce and the connection between the kitchen and its surroundings are part of the appeal, and Boys Hall offers a smarter countryside terrace within the setting of a historic house.

For coastal scenery, The Coastguard is difficult to match, with the Channel immediately in front and the White Cliffs behind. The Duke William provides the more traditional Kent country-pub experience, particularly for families and lazy weekend lunches, while The Potting Shed offers the most space for larger groups and younger children.

Whichever you choose, check how the outdoor space operates before setting off. Some venues allow specific terrace reservations, others allocate outside tables on arrival, and specialist outdoor kitchens or bars may only operate in good weather or during particular months. If eating outside is the main reason for the visit, it is worth confirming rather than leaving it to chance.

At Kent’s best alfresco restaurants and pubs, the outdoor space is not simply overflow seating for a sunny day. The river, harbour, garden or countryside becomes part of the meal, and that is what makes them worth seeking out.