Grove Ferry Inn — Restaurant in Canterbury

Review for The Grove Ferry Inn – Wedding on 10th May 2026

Planning a wedding is meant to be joyful, right? Flowers, cake tastings, happy tears… Not losing your venue to liquidation a few months before the big day. But that’s exactly what happened to us, and it felt like the rug had been pulled from under our entire wedding.

Then we found The Grove Ferry Inn, and suddenly, hope was back on the table — and with it came a team of people who felt less like vendors and more like a wedding rescue squad with hearts of gold.

From the very first moment, the team were incredible. Kind, calm, and completely unfazed by our chaos, they welcomed us in and said, “We’ve got you.” And they really, truly did. They didn’t just help us rebuild the day — they made it better than we ever imagined.

We were looking for something rustic, personal, and full of heart — and Grove Ferry delivered that in every single way. The setting itself is beautiful: riverside views, wildflowers, quirky charm and all the character you could ask for. It’s like someone bottled up countryside magic and poured it into a pub with soul.

They were open to every part of our vision — even when we threw a bit of a curveball and said, “We’d like a Caribbean twist, please!” From securing a steel drum band (huge shoutout to Chloe, who made that miracle happen) to crafting a bespoke menu with a blend of flavours that meant the world to us, they just got it.

Speaking of the food — let’s talk about John, who created a menu that felt like us on a plate. Every dish was delicious, beautifully presented, and thoughtfully considered. Sure, meal service was a little slow, but it honestly gave us all a chance to enjoy the setting, sip our drinks, and build anticipation for what turned out to be an incredible feast. And the Caribbean evening buffet? Chef’s kiss. Our guests still won’t shut up about the jerk chicken.

And I have to gush about the bridal dressing room — what a treat. Spacious, beautifully done, and complete with its own bathroom (with a shower, thank you very much!). It made the morning so much easier — somewhere quiet, calm, and gorgeous for all the getting-ready madness. Honestly, I wanted to live in there.

Then there’s the outside VIP area, reserved just for the wedding party — perfect for catching your breath and soaking in the moment. The outdoor stage was ideal for our band, and it all came together in a way that felt so natural and relaxed, like a big joyful garden party with all the people we love.

One emotional twist was that we sadly lost Ellen, our original coordinator, just a week before the wedding — but the handover to Chloe was seamless. These two women are total pros. Chloe swooped in, took the reins without missing a beat, and made sure every detail was handled with heart, humour, and warmth. She was an absolute superstar, and I honestly don’t know how she did it all while still managing to smile and make us laugh.

The Grove Ferry Inn didn’t just host our wedding. They saved it, elevated it, and made it into something that felt uniquely ours. We came in with a bit of a broken dream, and they gave it back to us tenfold — more colourful, more joyful, and full of laughter, love, and the kind of chaos you want on a wedding day.

We didn’t want formal or flashy — we wanted fun, heartfelt, rustic charm, and that’s exactly what we got. They made sure every guest felt special, every moment felt considered, and every last-minute change was handled without fuss.

If you’re thinking of getting married here — do it. Just do it. You’ll be in the hands of people who genuinely care, who know how to bring personality into every detail, and who’ll go the extra mile — even if it means saving your private boat ride at the last minute because the original boat broke down (true story!).

We are so incredibly grateful. Five stars doesn’t feel...

Having stayed here several times over the past few years we were really looking forward to a much needed break for our wedding anniversary as my wife and I are both key workers. Most times we have stayed in the past it has been taken over by new management but it has consistently been a perfect getaway, we have never had a single negative comment about the place. We have always stayed in the same room which has added sentimental value as we stayed in that room on our wedding night. We booked a night in our usual room a month in advance and specified an arrival time. We arrived on time and was taken upstairs by a pleasant hostess but when we got to the hallway we were informed that we would have to go back downstairs as it was still being cleaned. We went to have a drink in the bar which we were told would be added to our tab and half an hour later the room was ready - given the current pandemic we were not fussed about the wait. When we were taken upstairs the second time we were shown to the wrong room. At this point we showed our booking reservation and we had already mentioned the significance of our usual room in casual conversation on the stairs. We were informed that someone was already in the room we had booked and they had been there the previous night so the new room was our only option. We politely accepted there was nothing that could be done and checked if there was any price difference and told there was not. Upon entering the room we immediately noticed that the wallpaper was literally peeling off the whole wall. Already feeling disappointed, I decided to run a bath and make the most of the facilities. Unfortunately I filled the bath half way with just the “hot” tap and it was barely lukewarm so I pulled the plug and didn’t bother. By now we were feeling quite upset and considered going elsewhere for dinner but was struggling at short notice to book anywhere. If we had known our usual room wasn’t available we would have just come for dinner and not made an overnight booking at all so I went downstairs to talk to a manager. The hostess was apologetic and assured me she hadn’t added the drinks from earlier to our bill and called the manager over who not only offered weak excuses about the wallpaper, had no reaction to the lack of hot water, he unsympathetically refused to discount the room, actually apologise or explain why we were not contacted about the mix up and added insult to injury by offering to “compensate” us with steak and a pint for £15 which he stupidly explained was the special of the day on the menu so in no way was compensation as anybody could have ordered it at that price. He eventually offered to give us £30 discount on whatever meal we ordered. The bedroom radiator didn’t work but the bathroom one did and the bed (in comparison to our usual room) was cheap and creaky but the mattress was very comfortable. We are glad we did stay for dinner because the food was fantastic as usual but the real saving grace was our charismatic evening waitress Evie who was fabulous! The whole team of young staff were lovely, it’s just a shame their boss had such a terrible idea of customer service, lack of charm and no ability to provide basic levels of venue upkeep or communication and no understanding customer satisfaction. We will definitely not be...

Went to the Grove Ferry Inn yesterday with a group of people who had eaten there before and always had had a good experience. There were so many issues with our meal: We ordered three vegan smoked Gouda Ploughman's sandwiches; two on wholemeal bread and one on a gluten free roll, and a butternut squash sandwich with sweet potato fries. All three Ploughman's sandwiches came out on wholemeal bread and so one had to be sent back and be remade on gluten free bread, and the butternut squash sandwich came out with chips rather than sweet potato fries and so was sent back to be swapped. When the waiter returned he said there was a problem with the ticket machine. The 'soft wholemeal bread' was instead cheap, supermarket sandwich bread and so we sent one back and asked for it to be remade on sourdough. The 'smoked vegan Gouda cheese with pickle Ploughman's loveliness' was instead a measly one slice of cheese and some lettuce, with no pickle. When we said that the pickle was missing, the kitchen put two slices of gerkin on our plate. The most disappointing £7.50 worth of sandwich. Then we attempted to order dessert and asked which of their desserts were nut free due to someone in the party having an allergy, we were told only one dessert was nut free as they 'now make so many vegan and gluten free things'. The two members of staff who were checking their allergen guide were very flippant about the allergy and didn't seem to be able to read the guide properly. This meant we didn't feel comfortable to order the nut free dessert as it felt unsafe. We ordered two of the port poached pears that were supposed to be served with shortbread and ice cream. Both dishes came with no shortbread, and when we asked they said they didn't have any, but this was not mentioned when we ordered them. We sent both desserts back as it was yet another dish missing some of the listed ingredients. As we were preparing to leave we overhead a waiter telling another table that they were closing the kitchen due to the fact that they were missing lots of ingredients. We wouldn't have minded this fact if we had been told what was missing as we ordered but no one mentioned anything to us or apologised for the missing components. All round disappointing meal...