Even in the most unexpected places

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned I had called into the Vauxhall Inn, for a quick pint. It was a Sunday afternoon, and the weather, which was wet and windy, wasn’t exactly conducive to gardening.  So, needing an excuse to stretch my legs and get out of the house, the Vauxhall fitted the bill, even though at the time, I considered it something of a distress purchase.

I was feeling too lazy to walk down to a proper pub, such as the Nelson, or a beer café like Fuggles, so the Vauxhall it was, because when it comes to pubs, there is not much choice within the proximity of Bailey Towers. In fact, since the closure and subsequent demolition of the Primrose, the Vauxhall and the Cardinal’s Error are the only hostelries within 10 minutes’ walk of home and picking a pub from those two is pretty much Hobson’s Choice.

The Cardinal’s has been unknown territory since before the pandemic. It’s a typical estate pub, but not your typical estate
pub building. So instead of a flat-roof, concrete box, we find instead an attractive old tile-hung pub which in 1949, was converted from two former farm cottages to serve the surrounding post-war housing development.

As with the Vauxhall, which I will come onto in a moment, I’ve enjoyed a mixed relationship with the Cardinal’s Error over the years. When I first started working in Tonbridge, which was some five years before I moved to the town, the Cardinal’s was a good place to enjoy a lunchtime drink. No one really batted an eyelid back then, about having a couple of pints at lunchtime, and the pub did serve a particularly well-kept pint of Fremlin’s Bitter.

The pub had two bars, back then, which were very different and distinct from one another, but this arrangement worked. Things changed a decade or so later, and whilst I can’t remember exactly when the changes took place, they were to the detriment of both bars. Today, the Cardinal’s is divided internally into two distinct drinking areas by a massive brick chimney, with open fireplaces either side.

The cosy atmosphere of the former saloon bar vanished, as did the rough and ready feel of the public bar, and today there is still an uneasy truce between the two halves. The Cardinal’s also turned into much more of a local’s pub than it had been previously (probably due to the demise of the lunchtime, office, drinking crowd). There’s nothing wrong with this change, of course, but the pub isn’t really some where to go for a quiet drink, especially when one is on ones’ own.

For these reasons, it was the Vauxhall that I headed along to the other Sunday, and despite my initial misgivings, the pub managed to tick many of the right boxes. The Vauxhall is a former coaching inn, sited on what was, once the main road between London and Hastings. When my wife and I first moved in with one another, we had a dog, and our canine companion needed plenty of exercise.

There is an area of enclosed grassland, sandwiched between the A21 Tonbridge Bypass and a track leading up from the Vauxhall pub. It is the site of the former municipal tip, although the tips has been filled in and the area grassed over. It is known, rather unimaginatively, as “The Field,” but it provided a good area to allow the dog a good run around, and then repair to the Vauxhall for a couple of pints.

The Vauxhall was the perfect place to go, as with The Field sandwiched in between home and the pub, the dog and I could combine exercise with an hour or two in the pub. Like many local pubs back then, the Vauxhall was owned by Whitbread.  It was fairly basic and perhaps a trifle run down, but it had character and a welcoming open fire in the winter, plus a couple of well-kept cask beers from the Whitbread stable.

Sometime in the late 80’s the Vauxhall was sold off to a local pub company, who had a small number of pubs scattered across West Kent and underwent a major renovation. This was much more than just a quick paintjob, as the pub was changed out of all recognition. It was extended to the rear and was joined with the adjacent, free-standing, former stable block, effectively increasing the size of the pub by a factor of three. The original part of the building contained the bar, whilst the rear extension, plus the old stable block formed the main dining areas.

The proper open fires were replaced by fake, gas-fuelled "log-effect" ones and the place re-opened as a "Chimneys" restaurant.  Dogs of course were no longer welcome, so I too decided that my custom was not wanted either and took myself off elsewhere. That was getting on for 30 years ago, and the Vauxhall has slowly mellowed since its enlargement. The extension has blended in so seamlessly with the original pub, that unless you are in the know, you would be hard pushed to distinguish the old parts from the new.

The Vauxhall is now a Chef and Brewer pub, and despite various ups and downs over the years, is a pleasant enough place to go for a quiet drink. Mrs PBT’s and a group of her friends, reported back on a very nice post-Christmas meal, and get together at the pub, which provided further encouragement plus a reason for me to call in. I noticed that the customers are encouraged to use the side entrance, rather than the one at the front, and this is possibly a left-over from Covid restrictions. The sign, asking customers to wait to be seated was probably the same, because as soon as I was spotted and declared that I just wanted a drink, I was informed I could go and sit anywhere in the front part of the pub.

There was a reasonable number of customers in the bar area, including a student working away on a laptop, at a table in the corner. I walked up to the counter and ordered a pint of Black Sheep Pale Ale – the other cask ale was Greene King IPA, and stood at the bar for a while, watching the comings and goings. Judging by the number of people with dogs, the Vauxhall seemed very canine friendly, a real change from when it first re-opened after its enlargement.

There was a young girl with a puppy, sat at one side of the bar, plus an older gent with a quite boisterous beagle. I struck up a conversation with him, and it turned out that he lived locally, and normally drank in the Nelson. He had called in at the Vauxhall, for a change – rather like me really, and again like myself, was enjoying the Black Sheep. This was a pale coloured and well-hopped ale, which I believe is a relatively newcomer from the Black Sheep pen (horses are kept in stables, whilst sheep are kept in pens!)

Later on, as if to complete the canine line-up, a couple came in accompanied by a large and rather elegant looking Afghan hound. All in all, it was a pleasant half hour or so’s interlude, and all things being equal, I’m quite likely to call in again.

With the diners tucked away, in the lower (rear) part of the pub, it was difficult to tell how busy the lunchtime food trade had been, but there were plenty of cars parked outside, so I imagine business must have been quite brisk.

For those contemplating a longer stay, there is a Premier Inn adjacent to the pub, which makes this a good base for those visiting this attractive part of West Kent; although like many of the chain’s other hotels, there is a busy main road within earshot.