The Old Buttermarket

You'll find this sprawling boozer right on Burgate, occupying one of those wonderfully wonky medieval buildings that makes Canterbury so bloody photogenic. The Old Buttermarket manages that tricky balance of being smack in the tourist trail without feeling like a complete tourist trap – yes, there'll be plenty of visitors clutching guidebooks, but locals genuinely drink here too, which says everything. The interior's all exposed beams and uneven floors, exactly what you'd want from a pub in a building this old. Food's solid Nicholson's fare – think proper pub classics done well rather than anything revolutionary. The beer selection's reliably good, and the staff seem to actually know their way around the taps. It gets properly busy during Canterbury Festival and summer weekends, but that just adds to the atmosphere rather than detracting from it.