The Daylight Inn, Orpington

This large inter-war era pub has an unusual island location next to Petts Wood station and takes its name from a local MP who campaigned for the introduction of daylight saving. The pub looks great on approach, mixing white timbering and red brick to good effect and boasting some lovely, detailed woodwork around the porches, lattice effect windows and colourful flower baskets. You enter into a large main bar which appears to have been opened out from two separate rooms judging by the presence of a fireplace awkwardly positioned in the centre, opposite the bar. The room variously has parquet, tile and carpet floor coverings and sports some fine high wood panels and decorative plasterwork features. Seating is mainly in the form of comfy chairs and high stools, with most turned towards one of two large screens which were showing Soccer Saturday to a reasonably rapt crowd. The servery runs along the back wall and has a smart counter and a nice dark wood bar back with a detailed carved leaf design. If the TV screens weren't enough of a distraction from this rather pleasant room, the slot machines probably would be and the electronic advertising board on the front wall most certainly is. Moving to the right, past the attractive fireplace, you find a large raised seating area with lots of comfy chairs, various framed pictures on the wood beamed walls and a very nice fireplace with some marvellous spiral brick pillars. There is also a large function room out the back somewhere with its own bar, which I believe was originally a ballroom when this place was in use as a hotel. There was a mixed crowd in on a Saturday afternoon, giving the pub a nice community feel and the friendly staff seemed to have a good rapport with their regulars. I wasn't expecting much in the way of good beer here, but there were three ales on - Gadds Dependence Day, Old Dairy Cattle Shed and the inevitable Sharps Doom Bar - so I wonder if the success of the nearby micro pub has led to a rethink of their guest ale policy. I took a pint of the Cattle Shed (£3.25) which drank very well as I tried to lip-read Paul Merson to figure out how my team were getting on. This is a grand pub which must've been quite something back in its heyday. It has been knocked around a bit since then but still retains plenty of character and this, coupled with some decent beer, makes it well worth a look for anyone visiting Petts Wood primarily for the micro pub.