4th visit of the outing: I counted four giant hogshead barrels in situ all upturned so that one end made for the flat surface positioned on the floor, and the other end, your table top. They take up rather a lot of room and you cannot put your legs and feet underneath them. I was disappointed to see only one cask ale on and compared to my earlier visit at the end of May when there were four. I did not recognise a single soul from the old brigade of regulars who always seemed to be in under the old Four Candles’ days. A different staff member to the one served by on my May visit, and so yet to get to know them as well. They keep themselves rather separated behind the little bar created in one corner and unlike when the Four Candles’ staff sat at the same high benches with their punters when not busy serving. Perhaps there had been a real ale party of punters to have supped all the other planned real ales, with two from handpumps from barrels in the cellar below and two on stillage behind the bar. Guinness and a few lagers on keg dispense on the little bar counter I noted. I shared with two chaps sitting at one of the four hogshead barrels and soon got into conversation about attending the earlier Gadds’ Chairman’s beer festival and other micros also in Broadstairs. The other hogsheads had at least a couple of punters at each one. Prompt service for the one real ale on, on my late afternoon visit. To me the place appears smaller and more cramped for these four large barrels so placed than previously when it was high workbench-like tables but with seating and people’s feet and legs able to be accommodated underneath the tables. It has become the only micropub in Broadstairs to now not admit dogs and from their notice on the outside door stating “due to the limited floor space, we can no longer accommodate dogs inside the premises”.

4th visit of this outing to Broadstairs: My first visit to Trigger’s Broom, the former Four Candles Alehouse, and where this re-invented micropub opened on 23rd May 2026. Friendly, prompt service from the barmaid for our late afternoon visit. Busy both inside and out. Its sweeping changes include now featuring a smallish bar counter with two handpumps for two cask ales in the cellar below. It also has behind the bar counter two casks on gravity dispense with temperature-regulated cooling jackets, making it a total of four casks. The tables are made out of upturned hogshead barrels with high wooden bar stools positioned around them. There are now two WCs in place with the male WC comprising just a urinal. Dogs are no longer admitted inside, unless an assistance dog and to quote the signage: “due to limited floor space”. In tribute to the new name, Trigger’s Broom, a full-size wall-hung broom is prominently displayed on an internal wall and there is a sizeable sculpture of Trigger, the character from tv sitcom, Only Fools and Horses, standing with his broom on an upturned hogshead barrel on the pavement outside as you come in. There is also an array of framed old postcards of Broadstairs adorning the interior walls and an old-fashioned jukebox is positioned in the corridor leading to the two WCs. On the covered window above the entrance door is a line-drawing of Trigger proudly holding his broom to attention and wearing his medal from Peckham Council for being recognised for saving the council money in keeping and maintaining the exact same broom for 20 years, albeit that it had in that time 17 new heads and 14 new handles. As Trigger explained: "Look after your broom". By replacing the parts as they wore out, he believed he was maintaining a single, long-serving tool rather than ordering entirely new brooms. This micropub’s new name is a nod to carrying on the tradition established by the former Four Candles Alehouse. CONTINUES UNDER 1ST BEER ENTRY.