The Old Jail, Westerham

Official site of The Old Jail - www.thejail.pub

Official site of The Old Jail - www.thejail.pub

As John alludes to below, to say that this pub is food led is something of an understatement. Every table in all the drinking/dining areas, and all the nooks and crannies, were laid with cutlery, and as far as I could see everyone other than me was eating or had just finished a meal. But I sat at a small table for two by the window and nobody said anything, so I surmised that you could sit anywhere and just have a drink. Some tables had reserved signs on them though. On Friday lunchtime it was doing a very good trade indeed. This is another country pub that happens to be in Greater London as it's in the Borough of Bromley. It's out of the way to put it mildly. If you aren't driving here (and it does have a large car park) then the only option is the infrequent R8 bus that runs between Orpington and Biggin Hill. In the country pub way, there are black beams on all the ceilings, and black rough hewed posts all over the place, as well as a large inglenook fireplace on the right and another that straddles two rooms on the left. Apart from the boarded splash area surrounding the counter, it's carpeted throughout, and apart from the handfull of stools at the bar it's furnished with normal tables and chairs. I didn't see any fruit machines or the like. The other selling point for this pub (at least when the weather's fine) is the enormous garden - more like a small park really. There were three ales on - Doom Bar; Harvey's Best; and "Old Jail Ale" (Westerham Brewery) at £4.10 a pint. The food was generally pub grub, such as burger, etc (£10.95); Cumberland sausage & mash (£12.95); pie of the day (£12.95). Not cheap, but just aboout the going rate for upmarket Kent. This is clearly an upmarket pub cum restaurant, and is clearly a destination venue. I would guess that most people drive here as the public transport link (the R8 bus) is most infrequent. Nonetheless I thought that this was a nice enough pub, and I enjoyed the quiet hour or so I spent in here.

Randomness Guide to London - Old Jail entry

Randomness Guide to London - Old Jail entry