The Coney, Coney Hall, West Wickham

This huge roadside pub at the Coney Hall end of West Wickham has a rather uninspiring pub sign that simply reads 'The Coney Bar and Restaurant', so it came as no surprise to find that this place is heavily food-led. You enter via a spacious front patio which has plenty of decent garden furniture and a rather unappealing view across four lane of speeding traffic. Once inside, you find a large open-plan interior with various vaguely defined seating areas. The entrance area has a quarry stone floor with a huge pillar plonked in the middle and the bar on the back wall in a bare boarded part of the room. The servery has a chunky high bar counter and plain, modern bar back and looks like it has been lifted out of a hotel chain bar. To the front left there is a fenced off raised seating area with banquette and standard seating under the windows which were hidden behind closed Venetian blinds. Further back is a large restaurant area with standard chairs and benches under a wall which has been decorated with skis. The front right side of the pub has more dining room style seating and a TV screen which had been turned off in favour of an Oasis greatest hits compilation. Another fenced-in space to the rear right had a single table surrounded by sofas and tub chairs and the strange pub decor continued with some wall mounted snow shoes and a rather nice circular mirror. Potted plants add a bit of life to an otherwise very staid environment and the winter sports theme continued with a series of large photos of mountain scenes which all seem very out of place in suburban Bromley, although it appears to be something to do with the parent company who are (or were) called Mountain Range Restaurants, for reasons best known to themselves. There are three handpulls here and one was in operation on a mid-week visit, dispensing Wells Bombardier, with a Theakston's Best Bitter clip reversed and the final pump unused. The Bombardier clocked in a £3.20 and was in half decent shape, whilst the bar staff all seemed highly professional, if a little distant with their customers. I managed a quick look at the menu and it seemed straightforward enough, if a little pricey for the area. This is a characterless venue that suffers from too large an interior and too much of a food-led approach. There aren't too many pubs in the vicinity, so I imagine it generates a fair bit of trade by default as well as snagging a few who want to eat here, but I found it an uninteresting venue with only the prospect of some real ale to really recommend.

Official site of The Coney - www.theconey.co.uk

Official site of The Coney - www.theconey.co.uk