RETIRED GENTLEFOLK IN WESTERHAM

 

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Quite a shock to get home, upload my photos to irritate two teenage boys by slowing down their internet games, and realise how many posts I still have to do from the middle of December.

So here’s Westerham, a mere six miles from the in-laws.  And another pub accessible, if you’re quick, from Clacket Lane Service Station.

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Posh Kent

This is the Kent of Winston Churchill and National Trust Wives, rather than micro pubs and Tracy Emin, but there’s been good pubs here over the years (the Royal Oak at Crockham Hill especially).  Paul Bailey is your site for “not quite too posh” Kent dining pubs.

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Westerham seems to rotate its Beer Guide entry each year, perhaps more to do with having a solid set of pubs than the Invasion of the Micro Pubs and craft beer bars now invading the To(/u)nbridges.

Proving that craft is sweeping the nation, you have a choice of Greene King, Courage, Harveys and perhaps Westerham itself here.

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Gravestones mark passing of those that fought craft beer

I suspect some folk still regard the Seafarers in the George & Dragon with suspicion.

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Oooh, Seafarers.  Where’s that from ?

One daring chap, perhaps to create his own craft, has a pint of HSB/Seafarers mix, causing great excitement (a relative term) at the bar.  Not much excitement about a wholly adequate Pride (NBSS 2.5).

The pub itself is an American tourist’s dream, all half-timber and cricket bats on the wall.

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Lovely fireplace hiding there somewhere

In the week before Christmas, the entire septuagenarian population was settling in for their parsnips and sprouts.  WHY DO PEOPLE EAT THIS RUBBISH AT CHRISTMAS ?

In contrast, the non-foody area had a few professional drinkers (some younger than me) at the bar, but was otherwise deserted.

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Sri Lanka 247-8, a gripping contest

Surely nothing to do with a giant, unloved TV screen and the lack of beermats ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Published by retiredmartin

Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.

13 thoughts on “RETIRED GENTLEFOLK IN WESTERHAM”

  2. So a few days dining on ” the finest tacos in the world ” ” possibly the best burger and fries we’ve ever had ” and Denny’s artery-hardening breakfast and suddenly you’re looking down on root vegetables and the humble Brassica ?
    You’ve changed,Martin.
    And so,so quickly.
    Fortunately all these culinary aberrations will soon be a distant memory only to be revived when you catch sight of the baseball cap worn so freely Stateside and now tucked away at the back of your sock drawer.
    Tbh,I thought we’d lost you.
    Welcome home Martin.

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  4. “you have a choice of Greene King, Courage, Harveys and perhaps Westerham itself here.”

    Paul’s a big fan of Harvey’s Best. Hopefully I’ll get to try it some day.

    Cheers

    Russ

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  6. Though I want to protest the “American tourist’s dream” line as a matter of principle, that half timber stuff does sort of melt my heart, I can’t deny it!

    They don’t all have to seem like 18th century coaching inns to please us, though; I’m a big fan of the “seems like you’re in someone’s front room” kind of pubs, which can be as ultra-modern as pubs built in the 1970s. Anything of more recent vintage really has to prove itself to me, though. 😉

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    1. You’ll hear a fair amount of American tourists round there, Mark, as it’s close to Churchill’s residence and some picture postcard villages near London. I acknowledge that some Americans prefer the gritty reality of a Greene King Hungry Horse !

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