Beach huts Blossom Autumn mist Reeds

Welcome to The Sportsman



We offer a Five Course Tasting Menu comprised of small, seasonal dishes which showcase the local environment. This menu is put together day to day and includes recipes from the past twenty years along with new ideas. You will have a choice on the day between three or four dishes for each course. (To view a sample menu please go to 'Menus' and click 'Tasting'.)

From January to March 2024 we are also offering a Three Course Menu at £40pp excluding drinks and service. This menu is avaliable lunch and dinner, Tuesdays to Thursdays only. (To view a sample menu please go to 'Menus' and click 'Midweek Menu'.)


As always, we ask that you please advise us of any food allergies or special dietary requirements when booking and please be aware that we are not currently able to cater for dairy intolerances or a dairy free diet.
 
We are taking table bookings for up to a maximum of 10 people.

Please note that we do not allow children under 10 years and there
is no children's menu available.

When booking via e-mail please follow the format shown on our ‘Contact’ page. Including all the necessary information in your initial e-mail will help us to check availability and organise your booking much more efficiently. Thank you.
 

On arrival please wait at the door to be seated by a member of our team. You are welcome to arrive alittle earlier than your reservation time for drinks served at your table.

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Accommodation

We have four cabins situated in the garden to the rear of The Sportsman. Each cabin sleeps two people with a king size bed, en-suite shower room, fully equipped kitchen and lounge with a TV and wifi. The price for one night's stay is £160 per cabin then £140 for subsequent nights and includes provisions for a light breakfast of fresh bread, eggs, granola, yoghurt as well as tea, coffee, milk etc. Check in is from 4pm and check out by 11am. We don't allow dogs in the cabins.
 

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The first evidence of an inn at the site dates back to 1642 but the surrounding area of Seasalter was entered in the Domesday Book as belonging to the kitchens of Canterbury Cathedral. Even then it was an area of food production, farmed by the monks, supplying produce for the influx of religious tourists after the murder of Thomas Beckett in 1170.


We took over The Sportsman in November 1999 with the intention of serving good food in relaxed and informal surroundings. We have held a Michelin star since 2008.


Following the monks’ example we let the area around the pub dictate what we cook.  Behind us, the Thames Estuary, leading out to the North Sea, provides oysters and fish, and in front, marshland, woods and fertile soils give us meat, vegetables and game. We also grow some ingredients ourselves. A small kitchen garden and now polytunnel, mean we can cook with fruit and vegetables that benefit from being picked only moments before use.


In Borowart lath, there lies a small borough named Sesaltre [Seasalter], which properly belongs to the kitchen of the archbishop. There is a church and eight fisheries... wood for the pannage of ten hogs. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, it was worth twenty-five shillings, and now one hundred shillings.

- Survey of Seasalter in the Domesday Book, 1086
 

Get in touch

The Sportsman
Faversham Road
Seasalter
Whitstable
Kent
CT5 4BP

Tel 01227 273370

PLEASE NOTE: Inside seating is reserved exclusively for restaurant reservations but there is some seating available in the conservatory for drinkers.


Tuesday to Saturday
Food service: 12:00-13:45 and 18:30-20:30

Sunday
Food service: 12:30-14:45 and Bar service till 9pm

Monday
CLOSED