The Five Bells, Chelsfield, Orpington

Official site of The Five Bells - www.thefivebellschelsfield.co.uk

Official site of The Five Bells - www.thefivebellschelsfield.co.uk

This is a nice weatherboarded pub in the heart of this small village, with a two bar layout and a newer looking rear extension. I entered via the door on the right-hand side of the pub, which brought me into a smart bar area with nice floorboards and the servery directly opposite the entrance. The bar area is furnished mainly with mid-height padded stools plus some comfier seats to the front, whilst the rear part of the room has more of a restaurant feel to it, making use of standard tables and chairs in a carpeted space beyond the end of the bar. The bar has a nice cantilevered counter with tongue and groove panels painted grey and a nice dark wood, mirrored bar back. Dark beams cross the ceiling, which helps give the room a traditional pub feel, somewhat offset by the modern paint scheme and loud pop/rock soundtrack, but these are easily overlooked in favour of various black and white photos of the village, a collection of tankards hung above the bar, spirit bottles lined along a high shelf and various other decorative bits and bobs. The other room is a public bar, accessed via the front door which has a beautiful etched glass ‘Public Bar’ pane. I didn’t venture in here, as I couldn’t find a door connecting the two rooms, but it looked a bit more basic, with various simple seating options and simple decor. A few folk were sat outside on picnic benches in front of the pub, which gives a nice view of the village centre, and I think I also saw a sign for a rear beer garden. On the bar in the restaurant side, there were handpulls dispensing St Austell Proper Job and Thwaites Wainwright Gold (£2.30 a half), although there may have been additional ale options in the public bar. The Wainwright Gold was in good shape and the barmaid who served me seemed particularly cheerful. This pub, which seems to be a fairly consistent entrant in CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide, had a nice relaxed village pub feel to it, which I enjoyed dipping into briefly as I passed through the area. The service was friendly, the beer was good and the two bar set-up plus restaurant space means that different customer types have their own dedicated areas, ensuring a good environment for those just choosing to come here for a drink. It’s a good asset to the village and worth stopping off in if you’re passing by.

Attractive village pub, given a partial refurbishment at some stage, but the L-shaped front bar retains some traditional character. There is also another, more modern, dining area further back, plus some wooden benches out front. Three real ales available from the four handpumps on each counter: Doom Bar, TT Boltmaker and Butcombe Original (£4.30).

The Five Bells was doing a good trade when we arrived late on a weekday afternoon. It is situated at the centre of this village, at a traffic intersection, which was causing much congestion. Plenty of drinkers were seated outside in the mild early Autumn temperature. There was a smattering of others inside too. There were 3 real ales on, none of which were local - Doom Bar, Betty Stogs & Boltmaker. The barmaid was really helpful in looking at when the next bus (R7) was due for us. Unfortunately, that meant we only had 10 minutes, unless we wanted to hang around for almost 1 hour. We ended up having much more time, as the bus, despite being visible up the lane, was unable to get past a parked car. Once we'd supped up, I helped the driver get through the gap. Not something you see too often elsewhere in London!

They had four real ales on - Marston's Power of 3; Doom Bar; Courage Best; and Otter Bitter (£3.85 a pint). There was a full menu available on Wednesday lunchtime, with homemade burger & chips at £9.50, plus loads of other pub grub favourites such as a ploughman's, steak & ale pie, cod & chips all at fairly reasonable prices, and with sandwiches at around £5 - £6. The burger & chips was good quality. This seems very much a country pub, although it's still in Greater London - the Borough of Bromley in fact though it seems a million miles from Bromley in character. Their website claims that it dates from 1668. I entered through the public bar on the left, but as I was planning to eat the barmaid let me have a shortcut through the servery to the dining room - maybe she was being helpful, or perhaps it was because the door to the lounge bar at the back of the pub was not in use due to some work being undertaken there. The restaurant is a much smaller room with only a half dozen or so tables and chair, and with an old tapering bar counter, but with no handpumps as there are banks of four (beers repeated on each) sited in both the public bar and lounge. The counter and panelling look old - Victorian possibly, but certainly not 17th Century. Shame it's been painted grey. The lounge is behind the dining room, and is presumably used for the open mic and jazz nights that I saw advertised, and has clearly been extended from the original pub in more recent years. This room leads to the garden at the back. For me, the best room in this Grade II listed pub is the public bar. Like all the rooms in this pub, it is low-ceilinged and has black batons on the ceiling - the typical look for a country pub. This room has a dartboard and is furnished mainly with normal tables and chairs, but with a couple of tall tables (one of which is a barrel actually) and tall stools. The main feature in here, and I reckon in the whole pub, is the massive inglenook fireplace which does indeed date from the 17th Century. When I was in during a weekday lunchtime there was only me and a handful of other customers in, all but one having a meal. The Otter Bitter was in good shape, and the food I had was good quality and reasonably priced. I guess it's probably a very different place on open mic or jazz nights, but I enjoyed my visit. It's very much off the beaten track, but certainly worth dropping into if for some reason you do find yourself in Chelsfield Village.