The GeorgeVaults

The George Vaults sits on Rochester High Street above an early-14th-century vaulted undercroft, one of the town's more remarkable surviving medieval structures, rediscovered and brought back into use in 2002 by Mark Lucas and his son Lloyd Haines-Lucas. Today it trades as an independent brasserie and bar, with a menu built around locally sourced produce served in the ground-floor rooms and a secluded courtyard, while the stone undercroft below is used for events and private dining. It is family-owned rather than tied to a brewery or restaurant group, and operates from this single Rochester address. The setting does much of the work, but the kitchen keeps to a straightforward brasserie register of British dishes rather than theming itself around the building's age. It stands a short walk from Rochester Castle and the cathedral.