Editors note (July 2005): The Dovecote's current owner , George Schneider, writes: "Hello, I recently read the review about your Sunday visit to our pub and have to say that I think you were either in another pub or you left your white stick at home ! 
Firstly, we do not  allow dogs in the pub and your remarks about the beard and sandel  brigade are  also untrue and unfounded.  On Sundays our customers consist of families and couples normally here to eat and our locals, who come from near and far to enjoy a well kept pint of real ale.  Today being a Sunday I have noted one beard and guess what, NO SANDELS ! 
We are a CAMRA real ale pub and pride ourselves in maintaining a country Fee House Pub with excellent standards in both food and drink. We are frequently reminded by our customers compliments that our Sunday roasts are  both excellent in taste and in value. 
Our greengrocer, Vic Rice from Pembury will certainly be surprised about his vegetables not being fresh, as will our butcher, Sonny at Hadlow about his fresh Turkey cooked by our chef and sliced with his very expensive knive which then, apparently, makes the Turkey look as though Bernard Mathews had produced it !  
I am sure the Weavers does a wonderful lunch and obviously profit from your overwhelming support especally as you use other reviews to promote them. 
I personally would ask that you remove your unsolicited review of my pub as I find it biased and unfair.

Editors note (August 2004): JH has written to us to say that "The Dovecote changed hands a few months ago. The current owner George Schneider and his wife Jenny, employ a chef and I can verify that the meals are now excellent. There is still the real beer kick as you put it, but the 'grey haired ramblers' tend to be outnumbered (though there is now a rack for muddy boots to be left outside! The beers are well presented and straight from the barrel (no beer lines flushed out with bleach!). 4 regular beers plus one other and a superb clear and very stong local cider. I also note that he has applied for planning permission for a small extension to include a wheelchair accessible toilet - not many places have that."

The following review predates the current owners tenancy and is here for entertainment purposes only.

(2003) The British Sunday lunch is an institution much loved by pub and customer alike and the quiet seal of approval by constant repeat customers and word of mouth is what makes hunting out those few pubs who really do it well worthwhile. We've reported before about the wonderful Weavers in Southborough, but some little murmurs about the Dovecote Inn near Tonbridge made us take the journey to see what it was all about.

We arrived at 12 noon on a Sunday only to see the pub fill up over the next hour with locals, walkers and real ale enthusiasts. The beer is the kick here and the beards and sandal brigade were much in evidence, sandwiched up against not a few grey hairs and people with dogs. Our Sunday lunch was ok - it came hot and promptly but was clearly pre-prepared and possibly from a packet. We both chose turkey and I always get a little worried when the slices are perfectly cut with a teensy bit of fat around the outside and swamped with gravy. Roast spuds were good though and the usual suspect vegetables accompanied. A good destination for a good pint but I'd need to be a bit more convinced about the food to go out of my way again. M