The New Inn, Hayes, Bromley

Lovely looking pub from outside .Very modern and tasteful imo interior which i really liked.Locals seemed to like it as it well as it was busy will drinkers though an obviously different clientele from the micropub next door. All the major lager brands on keg and Pride and Westerham -summer perle on cask.The Westerham was enjoyed in the outside seating to the front which unfortunately overlooks the coming and goings in the car park.

This is a rather grand looking roadside inn, set in a striking building with some beautiful external stonework, most notably around the right-hand doorway which acts as the main entrance. Sadly, none of this grandeur remains inside the pub, which is a huge, open-plan, hotel-bar-meets-Wetherspoons mess. The interior comprises a roughly L-shaped space, with a similarly shaped servery occupying the middle of the rear wall, before running back where the room extends to the rear down the right side. The whole right side of the pub acts as the bar area, with drinkers primarily in evidence in this bare boarded space with plain painted walls and a selection of chair, bench and low stool seating options. Everything has a lounge feel to it, and all of the seating is nicely upholstered and well padded, making it a comfortable, if somewhat bland, space. A few booths with lovely curved banquettes run along the right-hand wall where the room starts to run to the rear, under some rustic bare brick walls, which make this probably the nicest spot to try and grab a seat. The left side of the pub is set-up as a restaurant area and has carpeting, a similar colour scheme plus a wallpapered end wall, and plenty of tables and chairs all set for dining. Decor throughout had an air of the IKEA about it - tasteless light fixtures, boring artworks and photos and run-of-the-mill ornaments abound, making it feel a bit like a showroom at times. There are also some large TV screens which were turned off in favour of pop tunes. The servery is very long and has a simple wood counter with an ugly modern bar back. Some sort of fire-pit stands close to the entrance, but given that it wasn’t lit on a cold mid-Winter evening, I guess it’s only there for show, rather than any practical reasons. Doors to the front centre lead out to a decked seating area which offers fine views across the sizable car park. I wasn’t expecting to find any ale here, so it was a pleasant surprise when I found three operational handpulls offering Fuller London Pride, Wychwood Hobgoblin and Brains Rev James. A very friendly barmaid served me a reasonable pint of the latter for £4.30. The pub was clearly doing a good trade, with plenty of customers in the pub and restaurant sides, although the place is far too big for this to translate into any kind of decent atmosphere. This is a handily located pub with the bonus of some cask ale options, but with the micropub next door and craft beer bar over the road, it’s hard to make a case for a visit to this place nowadays. The building is worth checking out, but that can be done without even going inside, so perhaps this is best left for those wanting food.

Official site of The New Inn - www.reganshayes.com

Official site of The New Inn - www.reganshayes.com

They had five ales on in here, which is good going I reckon. They were the stalwarts of London Pride and Doom Bar, supplemented by Spitfire, Cornish Coaster (£3.30 a pint), and Herok and Howell’s Festival Ale. Food is available here, although I didn’t get to see a menu. In fact a large area to the left of the bar counter has tables all laid for diners. This is a massive block of a pub, looking more like a town hall than a pub. Inside it’s one big drinking barn, a la ‘spoons. There’s modern replacement bare boarding on the floors, some armchairs, small stools and loads of pedestal tables. There’s a TV on one of the walls of course, and some minimalist decor on the walls, consisting mainly of New York scenes. I found this place very reminiscent of an Ember Inns pub, although not quite so nice. It has the other corporate feature of all the staff wearing black shirts. There’s masses of outside seating, but the setting on a high street isn’t exactly idyllic, but fair enough if you just want to watch the world go by. This isn’t really the sort of place where I would want to spend a lot of time, but the ale selection is OK and it’s definitely worth visiting for a swift one if waiting for a train at Hayes Station.