From the Dover Express, Thursday, 22 April 2021.

A wonderful place to relax - shame about the drilling next door.

THE Pilot Beach Bar is a special place to have a drink. Jamie Rose stops for a drink at the Pilot Beach Bar, one of Folkestone's most tropical leisure spots.

Located right on Folkestone beach - a stone's (or pebble’s) throw from the hugely popular Harbour Arm - punters can sit on a deck chair, lean back and take in the twinkling azure of the English Channel. There are even palm trees dotted around.

Yet the atmosphere was not entirely tranquil last Wednesday afternoon (April 14).

The reason is something of a double-edged sword.

Yards away, workers were busily constructing another unit next door to the "Pilot," completing a section of the Arm that will be known as Beachside.

I'm told it will eventually become a seafood outlet, opening in June.

In the meantime, however, loud drilling and hammering took place pretty much throughout the two hours or so I was sat there having a few drinks. It didn’t feel very tranquil.

Especially so when you added in the chilly temperatures and blustery winds - well outside of anyone’s control, of course - and the new online system which you have to use to order drinks, which very much is.

The Yoello payment system they have started using all over the Harbour Arm means you have to register an account before you can do anything.

Logging into the NHS track and trace system is one thing, and of course completely understandable in the middle of a global pandemic.

But by the time you’ve done that, registered a Yoello account, selected the order and provided your card details, it's turned into quite a protracted process.

In fact it got to the point where I wasn’t sure what was louder - the incessant drilling, or the chorus of tuts from older generations around baffled by the number of steps one has to follow these days to order a pint of lPA.

Anyhow, the bar itself is a wonderful space. No doubt it will be a fantastic one to relax in once the work next door is finished.

There was a good range of beers, which were served incredibly quickly given how busy it was.

The shipping container unit is well furnished, and the wooden pathways and deck chairs (and normal tables and chairs) made for a really nice, bohemian feel.

Add in the seafood unit next door, and you just know that Beachside is going to become a gem of a spot.

It will be another asset for Folkestone, whose hospitality game, pandemic aside, seems to continue going from strength to strength in recent years.

My friend and I knocked our glasses together, giving cheers to this wonderful fact. I’m just not entirely sure he'd heard what I said.