Chipstead fails me again!

I mentioned recently, in comments made on another blog, that I hadn't been getting out as much as I would have liked to, and there are a variety of different reasons behind why this should be true.  Fortunately, this all changed last weekend, when I took a ride out on a bus service that only runs on Sundays. This enabled me to visit three  different pubs, but the strange thing about the trip was that none of the pubs I ended up visiting, were on my original list, as I shall explain shortly.

Before going any further, you probably know that I'm a huge fan of travelling to the pub by bus, even if they're often found to be running late, or sometimes not at all. Unlike trains, which operate along dedicated tracks, buses operate on public roads, and have to take their chance alongside all the other road users, such as cars, lorries, coaches, farm vehicles, and even the occasional mad cyclist, all intent on snarling up our increasingly overcrowded, public highways.

Despite these drawbacks, buses still represent the best means of reaching those isolated and hard to get to country inns, without having to get behind the wheel of a private car. I have of course, written quite a few posts about days out by bus, all released under the generic title of "Pub Friday", but last weekend I embarked on a "Pub Sunday", same theme, but different day. 

My plan was to take the Go Coach 401 service, which operates between Tonbridge and Westerham, solely on Sundays. I specifically wanted to visit the Bricklayers Arms, a rather good  Harvey's pub, on the edge of Chipstead village and overlooking Chipstead Lakes. The latter are man-made structures, rather than natural lakes, that started life as gravel pits. Today, they are home to a wide variety of wildlife, and are popular with both anglers and amateur yachtsmen. 

I attempted to visit the Bricklayers, back in November 2021, only to find the pub inexplicitly shut, due to "unforeseen circumstances"! Surely this time things would work out alright? Looking back at the post I wrote at the time, I noticed that failed attempt also took place on a Sunday, and I had cited the exact same reasons for taking that 401 bus, although the service was operated by Arriva, back then. 

The time table had also been revised, and I noticed that the bus would drop me off in Chipstead at 11.15, which was a tad too early for the Bricklayer's. Fortunately, the CAMRA website came to my rescue, as I discovered that the Bullfinch in nearby Riverhead opened its doors at 11.30, so if I alighted from the bus on the edge of Chipstead, and then walked back towards the nearby Tesco superstore, I would be rattling the door of the Bullfinch, dead on opening time.

The Bullfinch is a tied pub that belongs to the Hertford brewer, McMullen's. It is Mac's only pub south of the Thames, and has been owned by the company since 2009.  In short, this stylish pub is a lone outpost, for the brewery, but is none the worst for that. The Bullfinch is home to a modern, spacious restaurant with a roaring log fire during the winter months, and is ideal for meeting up with friends and family. 

The pub also hosts a cosy bar lounge and a luscious, spacious green beer garden. McMullen's beers attract a mixed response amongst drinkers, and many in CAMRA are quite dismissal of the brewery and its brands. 

I remember well, the late chairman of my local branch (West Kent CAMRA), being less than complimentary when it came to McMullen's, a stance I believe he developed whilst living in Hertfordshire. Strangely enough, Iain was Scottish, so why there should be this antithesis towards  Mac's beers, is anybody's guess. There was a choice of two McMullen beers at the Bullfinch that day, IPA or Country Best Bitter, with the former being the stronger of the two, although not by much.

Now this is where I should have headed back into Chipstead, and found my way to the Bricklayer's, but deciding to be clever, I reckoned there was sufficient time for a pint in the Miner's Arms, first. The latter is in Dunton Green, and was originally built to quench the first of navvies, working on the nearby railway. The Miner's is now a local  family-friendly village pub with a strong sense of community. During refurbishment work, several years ago, the landlord uncovered and restored the 100 year old signage at the front of the pub, advertising the long now defunct brewery of Kidd and Son's Brewery, who were based in Dartford. As you can see from the photo, the sign provides an attractive feature on entering the pub. 

I received the strangest of welcomes from the landlady, who greeted me with the words, "Oh, you've had your haircut." As it happened I did have a trim, a couple of day's previously, but despite being tempted to play along with this case of mistaken identity, I gently reminded the good lady that neither of us had met, previously. It took a bit of gentle ribbing from a couple of local characters, to make her realise her mistake, but both parties accepted the error, in good grace. By way of compensation, I enjoyed a well-kept pint of Tonbridge Easy Street Pale. This visit was probably only my third or fourth visit to the Miner's, but on each occasion the pub has always delivered in terms of good beer, conviviality and a great atmosphere.

Onwards and upwards, but still with plenty of time on my hands (or so I thought), I retraced my steps back towards the Bullfinch, and then up a lane of rather expensive-looking houses, towards the edge of Chipstead. It was here that I took my eye off the ball, because on arriving at the village green, I took a wrong turning. I'm tempted to blame Google Maps here, as the App has an unfortunate trait of realigning itself (on screen), with every change of direction encountered, but blindly following the on-screen map, I reached the busy A25 main road. It was only then that I realised my error, and once again retraced my steps, back towards the village green. En route, I meticulously checked the various bus stops I encountered along the way, but information regarding  the 401 Sunday service seemed to be missing from most of them. Puzzled, I continued along a downhill road which I was sure would lead me down to the lakes, and my eventual goal of the Bricklayer's.

The beer that I'd already consumed, had worked its way down to my bladder, leaving me bursting for a pee, a situation which led me into the nearby George & Dragon. The latter is still very much a "food-led” pub, although the welcome I received was much more friendly than that which I faced, nearly four years ago. I therefore wasn't shoved out into the garden (it was bitterly cold, that November), and I wasn't made to feel like a pariah, either. Instead, I managed to engage with the two friendly girls behind the bar, even though their knowledge of the local buses, and the village bus stops, was unsurprisingly rather limited. There were two Westerham beers on sale, Grasshopper plus, in a nod to Roald Dahl, a "house" offering, called "George's Marvellous Medicine", also brewed by Westerham. 

I'm not normally a fan of so-called "house" beers, as they are invariably just one of the brewery's standard beers, re-badged, and sold at inflated price. The Grasshopper was good, and added extra weight to the fact that after over 25 years in the business, Westerham must be doing something right. However, the rather biased thinking of a former branch chairman, who had dismissed Westerham Ales out of hand, fuelled a lengthy,but period of distrust between CAMRA and Westerham's owner, and founder.Fortunately, the biased complainant is no longer actively involved with the local branch, but damage of that sort takes a long time to repair, and to my way of thinking it didn't help CAMRA's reputation, locally. For the record, this character was a different individual to the one who didn't like McMullen's.  

By now, I'd given up on reaching the Bricklayer's, primarily because I was uncertain where the return bus stop was located. I didn't want to miss the 14.15 bus, because it was the final one continuing on to Tonbridge. So, somewhat reluctantly, I walked back to Riverhead, through a very posh Chipstead, keeping an eye out for strategically placed trees or hedges, where I could once again empty my bladder - spoiler alert, there weren't any! 

The Bullfinch came to the rescue, although there wasn't time for a beer, in exchange for the use of the pub's facilities. I waited at the Tesco stop for the 401, which arrived early, which was bonus, as I was glad to take the weight off my feet. So, after two failed attempts, will it be third time lucky for me and the Bricklayer's? I'm in no great hurry to return to Chipstead, at the moment, and I might even contemplate driving there, next time, despite my reluctance to use the car. Watch this space then, although at the same time, don't hold your breath!