If someone had said they were reviewing food at a leisure centre, memories would paddle into view of a tray of miserable chips doing lengths in a pool of vinegar, surrounded by the chlorine-scented skin of fellow young diners keen to put on all the calories their swim had just extinguished.

But times have changed. Or, at least, the definition of a leisure centre has.

Because on a dark November Friday night, I am entering the doors of Margate Leisure Centre and there's not a swimming pool, dumbbell or discarded athletes' foot sock to be seen.

Instead the entertainment on offer stretches to table football, indoor pétanque (or boules if you will) and, wait for it, axe-throwing.

As for food? It's all thin-crust handmade pizza. More of which in a moment.

We are in Cliftonville - the once swanky part of Margate which has long since lost its shine but has, just recently, seen some sparkles return.

Now, normally, reading about axe-throwing in Cliftonville wouldn't entirely surprise me, such is its reputation.

It's always reminded me of south London.

It's full of spectacular, imposing, albeit tired, Victorian architecture; has more than its fair share of deprivation; a bustling, multi-cultural high street and, in recent years, seen pockets of investment designed to entice the middle classes back in.

A bit like Brixton.

So, for clarity, the axes here are tossed not in anger but for a fun night out (an hour will set you back £24 each).

One for another day, perhaps.

And that is primarily because we're here for the food and drink offering... and if my poor tolerance of alcohol has taught me one thing in life, it's that trying to throw an axe after a pint on an empty stomach is frankly a threat to both myself and anyone standing nearby. (And you're not allowed to 'drink and throw' here, it should be pointed out).

This is a well designed place (entrance is on Edgar Road, just behind the café and restaurant Rendezvous) - a bar alongside one wall, the alley of axe-chucking lanes safely protected along one side, with a number of lanes for pétanque.

You will, no doubt, be pleased to learn a stray axe won't accidentally embed itself in your skull while tossing a boule or necking a beer.

The rest is a broad open seating area with the Slice of Margate Pizzeria holding court.

We plonk ourselves down on the wooden tables and split - one team tasked with getting in the booze (it is Friday night after all), the other to buy the grub.

There's five of us so plenty of both is required.

First the bar. And, joy of joys, it has one of the finest beers in the county (hell, let's call it the country, why not).

The Northdown Brewery - lurking on an industrial estate around the back of the Hornby museum - does a very fine range of beers and, personally, I've yet to taste anything to rival Easterly - a New England IPA with a kick at 6%.

It's not cheap - £6 a pint - but you pay for quality don't you?

Its hazy golden colour is, in truth, best enjoyed on a summer's day, but, much to my relief, it goes down ruddy well on an autumnal evening.

Exceptional fruity stuff.

On the pizza front, three 16" treats are ordered and we watch the staff prep and cook from our seats.

Given the beers are predominantly local, it is only fitting that Italy's finest fast food export is given a Kent makeover too.

A chalkboard reveals locally sourced ingredients are used.

So stand up Deal, Margate, Ashford, Whitstable and Broadstairs for your role in the meal which we are about to receive.

All are short-crust, 'proper' pizzas and are topped with San Marzano blended tomatoes.

Which basically pulls the key ingredient right up in the mix rather than disguising it with countless toppings.

But, it should be said, I'm going to argue they probably aren't locally grown (at least the empty tomato can holding the napkins on the table hails from Italy)...but I may be wrong.

It's always a bit of a treat to get a nice pizza - you forget the crunch of the crust.

How much nicer they are without the doughy extravaganzas we become so used to, allowing the light and subtle flavours to be the stars of the show.

First up is the Jam Face (£11) which comes, as the name hints at, with Jam Face chilli jam.

I'm hopeless with heat normally - but this is just right. It's a warming buzz rather than anything more dramatic.

Second is a Classic Margs (£10) (or Margherita if we're going to be more formal) - which is always a fine test of how good - or otherwise - a pizza is. It passes with flying colours.

And finally we go for a Walpoli - billed as 'for lovers of anchovies'. For reasons I didn't quite catch, we scrap the anchovies and replace them with olives (£12). Delicious.

Washed down with a pint of Easterly, this is all rather pleasant.

For a Friday night, the place is far from packed, but it is lively - there's a broad age range here, from families with kids to people even older than me.

The bar staff are bearded folk with dramatic moustaches - probably replicas of the very people they hope to pull in here.

Very new Margate.

And they should all be proud of themselves. Because what they have achieved here is dropping something different into an area which needs just this sort of venture to pull people back into Cliftonville.

It's focus on locally-sourced food and drink is to be applauded too.

The only blip? A comedy moment after we leave when the woman serving the pizza runs after us on to the street to question whether we'd paid.

We had when we ordered... but we won't take offence at being accused (albeit very nicely) of a bit of pizza bilking.

Cliftonville - despite recently being hailed one of the Coolest Neighbourhoods in the World by Time Out - isn't quite there yet... but it's getting closer by the day.

As we stroll back along towards Margate, we pop into a nearby pub and come to the conclusion that we're coming back to this neck of the woods for a night out again. Try it for yourself.

Ratings (out of five stars)

Food: Pizza done properly is always a treat - and those tomatoes popped ****

Drink: If God had been doing stuff on an eighth day, he would have created Easterly rather than leaving it for Northdown Brewery to do so. It really is that good *****

Decor: It's all very well done; nice chunky tables, brightly lit games areas, 'mood lighting' elsewhere and very much in the style of the 'new' artsy Margate crowd ****

Staff: Fellow behind the bar was friendly as was the woman preparing and serving the pizzas. But the 'have you paid incident' will cost her a star ****

Price: Decent pizza for around £10 each is quite reasonable. £6 for a pint - however nice it is - is still a bit of an ask in Thanet ****