The Golden Hope in Swale

First point, didn't stay here so can't comment on the rooms. However, did have a great breakfast there this morning. The sausages and bacon are always very good. You get plenty of food for your money, you really can't complain! Sat in one of the converted holding cells from its previous life. Which, incidentally, I was present for during a murder hearing (sounds worse than it was, I was on work experience as a reporter!) Service is always speedy and friendly. A bit rough around the edges inside, but it's a 'spoons. You know what to expect.

A great place for decent cheap food and drink, friendly staff and a tidy place. Would recommend 100%.

Had a meal average drinks cheap though, good service by our server as we could not use the app

The pub resembles a child day care centre sometimes but overall it is an excellent Wetherspoons , sometimes the chef is on holiday and the food can be a bit third world in its quality , one day the fish was so undercooked it ate the peas but generally the food is cooked to a good standard and delivered promptly The staff and management are freindly , so all in all you can't go wrong here

Old Police Station repurposed into a wetherspoons cheap as chips had Worthington bitter very good and Korean chicken with chips. Quick service and friendly staff.

Met a buddy here before a club meet. Atmosphere good and ordering on the app avoids the ques, brilliant

Easily ordered food through the app...brought to the table quickly and it's nice and hot.

Great place. Can be hard to find parking

Great place. The food is well prepared and the prices are more than affordable, I would say low. I highly recommend this establishment!

Epic pub, great food fantastic staff... we always have a great time whenever we visit 😁👍👍👍

After today's visit with a friend I've reduced my star rating due to one rude member of staff server...never had that treatment before and I've been to many Wetherspoons in my time...very rude on more than one occasion!

Cheap beer, good food, quick service... what's not to like?

Can't complain about prices for either beer or food . Food portion sizes definitely smaller than they were, though .

What a quirky unique pub. Never thought we would be having a beer & lunch in a converted police cell. Pub is in a great location in Sittingbourne. Outside seating front & rear is plentiful. Lots of nooks with tables & chairs in. Staff were nice but overrun at times with only one girl behind the bar. Ultimate burger was really poor. Room for the night was lovely (£63.80 for a Sunday). Pillows are awfully hard. Freedom breakfast was really tasty. Good value for money. Loved the overall experience here. Number 71 for us. Won't come back as there are still 800 Spoons still to visit.

Great service at the bar and great price for a pint of Abbotts ale @£1.99

I've been here many times, it's always very pleasant, it's in the old court house and they have kept alot of the unique features. There's a garden with seating out the front for non-smokers and a lovely garden with seating at the back for smokers. The staff are always friendly and helpful and the food is always good quality at very reasonable prices, although they have vegetarian and vegan options, there isn't a big selection, but what they do have is really good. It isn't dog friendly unfortunately which I always think is a shame as they aren't even allowed in the gardens. They are one of the rare places that serve pepsi pepsi max and pepsi max cherry which I love as I'm not a big fan of coke and many of the meal options come with a soft drink or for a little bit extra you can get an alcoholic drink which I'm a big fan of. The toilets are always clean, they are a huge room very well designed with many stalls so no waiting in line and the pub itself is very well thought out with many private areas as well as a main area so plenty to choose from and the old cells are 3 separate booths for extra privacy. It's got a very rustic and trendy vibe which results in a very pleasant atmosphere to suit all needs. Although the front entrance has stairs, there is a disabled entrance at the side and a small elevator to get up to the bar area and disabled toilet which makes this pub very disabled friendly, however it doesn't have its own car park so parking could be an issue. They have a TV in the main bar area which shows football when there are big matches on and this pub is child friendly although there isn't really much for them to do, but they do have a kids menu. This pub also has a hotel in it, but I have never used this so I cannot comment on the quality and price, however overall I would highly recommend this pub.

Very unusual old court house which for a change wasn't ripped apart to develop into a public house. Many features remain including the cells which I believe seat 6 and serve as private booths. Breakfast visit was well worth it and great value for money. Child friendly and staff happy to help. Outside Seating to front and rear of the building. Well worth visiting

Visited today at lunchtime. Our meals were warm but my mother in law had cold mashed potato, cold peas and lukewarm steak and kidney pie. We sent it back to be heated up but waited over 10 minutes for the meal to arrive. That also was lukewarm but as we had nearly finished our meals, my mother in law ate most of it but didn't enjoy her meal. Very disappointed with the quality of food and the lack of concern for their customers. We will not visit this venue again and can definitely not recommend it.

A typical Wetherspoons pub - cheap beer and not so cheap food considering what it is. The staff work hard but couldn't care less whether you are alive or dead. They are just doing a job to get their poor wages. The place is clean and bright and in an interesting building - an old police station and magistrates court.

The food and staff are exceptional and the atmosphere was amazing will definitely be going again. Best weatherspoons I've been too so far

Lovely building, food and services great.

Solely disappointed as I walked in and sat at table with my wife and child (13) and just as we were reading the menu and choosing our meals a waitress came up to our table and asked to leave 'at once'. Apparently after 9pm they won't let a child eat a meal at this venue. Never knew this was a law in this country? This is NOT a family friendly or even a friendly establishment.

Fresher management beginning to turn this place around. A good deal cleaner and more professionally run than it has been previously. An interesting variety of three real ales despite the staid expected portfolio of the other three standards foisted upon them by head office. Decent tap, bottled and canned beers/lagers too. The good prices are even lower on Monday (Club), recently joined by £179 real ale on Wednesday. Have careful look around if you prefer cider, there is often a decent one in a polypin in the fridge. Food is well priced but only ever average, however the curries rival the more expensive over the road. A mixed bunch of staff, half of which are professional and friendly, the remainder can barely crack a smile

Visited today to celebrate a 97th birthday with family (large family group). Really disappointed with the food service on this occasion with one member of the party waiting 45 mins and after 3 chase ups. Some of the staff serving (not all) did not appear particularly engaged/interested. Hope this was a one off problem.

the Pub is near the town centre service is excellent the staff are friendly

Golden Hope Sittingbourne is our local pub. My husband Bill is a regular there for his Ale & Beers 🍻… My son and I are regular there for their delicious & tasty chicken wings mmm 😋… It’s a relaxed friendly local pub with great atmosphere. Sam and his team are very friendly, helpful, goes the extra mile and always excellent service. Toilets are always clean and lovely decorated. The whole buiding is clean and well decorated. I’ll whole heartedly recommend it to anyone!! Reasonable price and value for money!

Nearly a hour wait for food . Half the stuff not on the menu . My first bad experience at a weather spoons won’t be visiting again

If Sittingbourne doesn't all ready have a bad name this place cements as such confrontational staff who bar people at a moments notice. Its a pity the vineyard is shut as they are far more welcoming with far more nicer staff. Best avoided

I waited at the bar for over 20 minutes for my food and then they made a mistake with it. They had one lad doing nothing except the app drinks orders and one lady serving the whole bar.

Very good place lovely rooms only 3 😁

It's a lovely location with enough space but limited choice of activities to keep you going.

Breakfast is reasonably priced Staff are friendly Mains meals either come so hot that they feel "nuked" or barely warm. They need to increase their vegetarian range. The jacket potato should have some kind of "butter/spread" on it first as its very DRY...and PLEASE IMPROVE the "salad/garnish" that comes with the jacket potato.

Confrontational staff! So rude towards people! Too many times dinner and breakfast served cold! I tell staff and they give off a careless approach. No apology! I place a hot drink down on the table (today's date) and the waiter female (long hair, weras glasses uses her spray across the table I'm using and I saw the cleaning spray spirt everywhere. I confronted her about it and she gave me a careless, dim apology and pulled a nasty face at me. I told her that what she did was dangerous. I am a gay man, maybe I am being personally targeted? Plus I have let managers know that food is being served cold and not cooked properly. Personal opinion of mine is, their must be a friendly group of staff that are already close friends. The rudeness and disrespect wants sorting out.

Really friendly and helpful staff, thought the rooms were going to be noisy but they were surprisingly quiet.

Went in for a steak meal , very disapointed , the chips were stone cold ,so sent them back , after about ten minutes they came back with our steaks , again our chips were still stone cold . So got a refund & ate elsewhere . They need to get a chef that can cook chips properly . Will not be eating there again .

The times when I have visited the restaurant the staff are always professional, the atmosphere is good, and the products are always clean and displayed neatly. The restaurant is always clean.

Waited 40 minutes for a god awful breakfast. Egg yolks were rock hard.

Unfortunately the quality of dining has dropped significantly since, the pandemic. At one time the dining experience was really good but in an effort to control prices they dropped the quality , luckwarm chips, tough steak most of the time and garnish removed so the meals no longer look attractive. Wetherspoons seem to only be interested in selling booze come on get back in the game and at the top

Just a FAB place to have breakfast, a chat and catch up with friends 👍👌

Fantastic stay here lovely room, friendly and helpful and pleasant staff

Great place an old jail with some original features still..great food good service nice atmosphere 👌

Service was excellent and staff very friendly, clean seating, spacious. The food was absolutely delicious and hot. X

Just had a lovely Sunday dinner by chance stop after doing a long jog. First time to this pub and am amazed at the cleanliness everywhere, including the toilets, easy to order drinks and food using the app. My wife went to the bar after to get a glass of water and was directed to the water dispenser, the bar person assisted whilst helping someone else. One of the cooks walked by and was wearing a hair net. This is a very well run pub and they should all be proud of it!

I have been to this weatherspoons many times. Never been disappointed

A big shout out to the fantastic staff! Sam, the manager, is doing a great job. I’d like to say a massive thank you to every single staff member in this pub for making my visits here so welcoming. So, thank you : Rachael, Rachel, Jess, Luke, Paula, Maria, Abs, Bev, Annalise, Ellie, and all the rest of the lovely staff. Keep up the superb work :-)

Everybody knows Weatherspoons, cheap pub grub, sticky tables and very inexpensive pints. Definitely not fine dining, but it's tasty enough, and with these prices you have to compromise and either have a bunch of wet wipes with you to sort out your table, or just be prepared to have your sleeves stuck😂 Anyway it's good enough for me so I keep coming and keep compromising😁

Fantastic place catters for all, check it out

Terrible. When we got in it was busy. We order it was busy . We ordered on the app. There was no notices saying that there was long wait. Our drinks took 20 minutes to come out . Then after 40 minutes I asked how much longer our food would be. Was asked how long I had waited I told them I was told there were other tickets that were waiting over an hour . Not very helpful. When our food finally came which was over an hour after we had ordered . The eggs were over cooked the chips were uncooked also there was not many chips on plate. The beans look like the had been scrapped from the bottom of the pan. Most of it was cold. It was awful. Will not be returning again

Working away from home and been here twice, have had 2 steaks from here first one was really nice but the second one I had today 4th March 24, best steak I've ever had from a weatherspoons. Whoever the chef is that's on today knows how to cook a steak. (It's the garlic that stands out)

Dont know..I wasnt there 🙋‍♀️🤷‍♀️

Beautiful staff and exceptional service throughout. Love this pub.

Great location, always feel welcome when visiting. The staff are always welcoming and the variety of rooms within this building make it an interesting place to be.

Great breakfast. Good menu options and unlimited freshly ground coffee. Each room or cell has a different feel and it’s always a comfortable place to be. The building has a lot of history and a lot of work has been done to preserve that.

Great pub and even better staff,big up for jayne the manager

A couples trip to vist the big sanctuary as only a short drive away. The hotel room is large with a very good bathroom. The staff were very friendly and helpful. The Wetherspoon pub is a very nice old building and has been done out really well. It is well worth a visit and also cheaper than our local in Pudsey. It’s a good spoons

We had a great stay room was lovely,you cant hear any noise from the pub downstairs Angela checked us in and showed us the room she was very helpfull the hotel nanager was very chatty and gave us the history breakfast was great.only thing is no onsite parking so we parked at the station 3 days parking £18.00 all in cone and go as you like full cctv in parking 5 mins walk from pub. Will definatly go back for another stay we were pleasantly surprised as we wer,nt expecting much but it ticket all the boxes for us would be great if onsite parking was available tho.even if we had to pay seperatly.

Was the old Magistrates Court, and previously to that Sittingbourne's Police Station !!!! Very good conversion undertaken, and still retains the old cells, which you can occupy. Also has B & B availability (3 places only). Update 18/02/23. They have run out of Prosecco ! Update 14/07/23. Credit to Weatherspoons for holding the price of Doombar Bitter at £1:99p a pint - and that's not the cheapest Real Ale available either 👍 Update 11/02/24. Today they had run out of both varieties of Rose Wine and had only 2 (small), bottles of Prosecco left ! 😬

Good food polite staff and a lovely atmosphere.