The Oxted Inn (JD Wetherspoon), Oxted

This is a purpose-built branch of the Wetherspoons chain, situated right next to the town’s train station which, with the exception of a small off-license bar, is the only pub in the ‘new’ part of Oxted. The large brick building certainly doesn’t look out of place and in fact presented quite a pleasant façade, thanks in part to a long row of colourful hanging baskets down one side. Under the current government rules, customers can only visit if they remain outside, which wasn’t too much of a problem on my Sunday afternoon visit, as there are plenty of picnic benches and other such bits of garden furniture arranged around the perimeter of the pub, spilling out in places onto an adjacent pedestrian walkway. Somewhat surprisingly, there weren’t too many punters here when I arrived, so finding a table was easy and serving staff were constantly coming and going, making it easy enough to get someone’s attention to place an order – an essential if, like me, your phone can’t handle QR codes or the Wetherspoons app, both of which are promoted as the preferred method of ordering. A trip to the toilets gave me a brief opportunity to check out the interior, thanks in part to a one-way system that leads you through the majority of the pub’s main room. It’s a pretty large, open plan affair, with some bits of low partitioning, although it wasn’t entirely clear what would normally be in place and what had been added to create the one-way route. The usual mix of Spoons seating was present and correct, albeit shuffled around a bit and with a couple of raised platforms at either end, whilst TV screens and local interest info boards were also on display. The servery runs along the rear wall and boasts perhaps the pub’s most distinctive feature – a long row of clocks above the bar counter, which show the time in various cities across the globe in an allusion to the pub’s proximity to the Greenwich Meridian. The polite, if a little disinterested chap who served me explained that they only had two cask ales on – Ruddles and Sharps Doom Bar – although he also listed Guinness and Brewdog Punk IPA as cask options, which made me wonder if he really knew exactly what was available. With no option to check at he bar myself, I had to take my pick from the two uninspiring choices, resulting in a pretty poor pint of Doom Bar (£1.99) that was hardly a great welcome back to cask ale after over four months without. Overall, I thought this place, much like the Oxted pub scene, was a bit lacking. It looked promising enough on approach but felt very plain and uninteresting once inside. I appreciate that I didn’t see this place at its best, but suspect that even with the addition of some guest ales and the full return of its furnishings and fittings, there’s not much to recommend other than it being the only pub in this part of town.