The Wheatsheaf, West Wickham

Set slightly back from the High Street, therefore leaving ample room for a good sized front patio seating area, this pub was previously best known for its odd name - Ye Olde Anthropologist. I had always assumed that this was West Wickham's rough boozer, so it was a great surprise to enter and find a rather upmarket dining pub instead. Two separate entrance doors lead you into the same opened out L-shaped room which is carpeted for the most part and has half panelled walls with dull coloured uppers. High tables and stools run through the centre of the pub but comfier options such as the sofas under the bare brick walls to the right and heavily padded chairs in the front left section provide some good alternatives. The room extends down the left hand side towards the back where a mix of standard chairs and deep banquettes help to create a pleasant enough seating area as far as this type of gastro pub goes, although again it all feels a bit open plan and devoid of character and atmosphere. At the far left end there is a compact formal dining area with some laid tables which were all vacant on a mid-week evening. Lots of nice local photos did at least provide some good visual distraction and there was a TV screen at one end of the room showing some random TV drama that no-one was watching, whilst Madonna blared over the pub's sound system. Rather incongruously, the pub advertises DJ nights on Friday and Saturday evenings, which I would've thought would be good evenings to do a bit of food trade. Three handpulls on the bar were clipped with Taylor Landlord, Harvey's Sussex Best and Mordue Workie Ticket, although it turned out the latter had gone off. The barmaid seemed nice enough and poured me a reasonably good pint of the Best which I sank whilst marvelling at how utterly devoid of atmosphere such a relatively busy pub could be. In many ways, I think I would have preferred it if this place had turned out to be a rough boozer. Whilst this may have meant having to sacrifice on the ale, it might at least have lent the place some atmosphere and charm - characteristics notably lacking in its present restaurant format. Whilst the prospect of a decent pint might make it worth a look in passing, I would much rather carry on up the High Street to the Swan for a more rounded pub-going experience.