Planned Events
This popular festival can be reached by train. However the closest station – Kidbrooke – is about 20 minutes walk away, and there are no direct trains from there to any station in our borough, so a change of trains (probably at Lewisham or Nunhead depending upon your starting point) will be needed. For some members it may be easier to use the 314 bus which starts in New Addington and passes Bromley South on its way to Eltham. Alight at Eltham High Street / Passey Place, and then catch either the 132 or 286 from stop “N” toward Greenwich, alighting at Rochester Way / Broad Walk. The club is less than 5 minutes walk away.
Of course other routes may be better depending on your starting point. The Transport for London journey planner may help:
https://tfl.gov.uk/plan-a-journey/
More information about the festival provided at http://sel.camra.org.uk/diary/festivals/
This superb pub is in one of the borough’s more rural locations and is best reached by bus. Get the 146 from Bromley North/South or the R8 from Orpington station and alight at the terminus in Downe Village. But the services are infrequent so check the timetable.
Bromley CAMRA members who are not on the committee are always welcome to attend committee meetings. Non-committee members planning to attend a meeting may request the Secretary (secretary@bromley.camra.org.uk) to prepare and print a pack of relevant committee papers to be made available at the meeting.
This event has been rescheduled from March 17th when “the beast from the East” made travel inadvisable.
With long light evenings now with us, what better way to take advantage than with a day trip to the county town of Kent, which also happens to be its best real ale town (some may argue!). This visit concentrates on its four best drinking venues (even more may argue) but all of them are relatively near Maidstone East station so only a moderate amount of walking is involved. In addition to the four pubs on the itinerary, there is a large Wetherspoons next to the station with the normal food range.
The plan is to meet at Bromley South station in order to catch the 11.12 train to Maidstone. The first pub (arrive 12.15) is the Rifle Volunteers, 28 Wyatt St. ME14 1EU . This pub is one of only two Goachers tied houses and has four handpumps dispensing beers from the brewery. Older members will be able to wallow in nostalgia when they see the range of historic beer-related artefacts behind the bar.
We continue to (13.30) Olde Thirsty Pig, 4a Knightrider St. ME15 6LP. This is the oldest pub in the town, dating from the 15th century and is grade 2 listed. Well worth visiting the upstairs if you don’t mind awkward staircases. The real ale range is mainly from smaller Kent breweries.
From the oldest to the newest, to a visit to a micropub which has opened since Bromley CAMRA’s only other visit to the town. This is (14:45) Cellars Alehouse, The Old Brewery, Buckland Rd ME16 0DZ . The building is built on the site of the old Stile and Winch brewery. Expect around 5 non-mainstream real ales sourced nationally.
And as if the first three venues weren’t enough we finish at the Kent CAMRA Pub of the Year for 2017. This is (16:00) The Flower Pot, 96 Sandling Rd ME14 2RJ. Expect a range of up to nine real ales from breweries all over the country. (TW).
We hope for good weather for this year’s country stroll through the countryside at the rural edge of our borough.
We begin at a superb pub, which now benefits from a much improved bus service offered by the R7 route. The bus stops right outside the pub having passed close to Chislehurst, Bickley, Petts Wood and Orpington stations. The route is half-hourly for most of the day on Saturdays.
This pub restaurant is about 20 minutes walk from The Five Bells.
Anyone joining the walk here should use the R7 route from Orpington station and alight at the Maypole/Bo Peep.
After walking from the Bo-Peep, we reach The Cock, prominently situated in the centre of Halstead. a spacaious pub, which normally offers three mainstream real ales.
Our gentle stroll ends with a 10 minute walk from The Cock to this first-rate and very traditional pub which normally offers up to 6 real ales, usually including some non-mainstream options.
https://whatpub.com/pubs/TTW/59/rose-crown-halstead
Return travel to Orpington is via the R5/R10 bus route. This a circular route starting and ending at Orpington Station. The route number changes depending on which way round the circle the bus is taking. The route is infrequent, so it’s worth taking a look at the timetable. At the time of writing the last bus of the day leaves Halstead just after 9pm. The bus stop is near to the Cock. Alternatively, Knockholt station is about a mile away (mainly downhill).
This pub is located directly opposite the main entrance to Bromley North station and very close to the Bromley North bus station. The crawl will continue to three other pubs (further details to follow).
We have noticed that several attendees at our lunchtime socials have mentioned that they would prefer a later start, so that they can get things done in the morning. So we are trying a 2pm start for this social in the rural environment of Keston.
The Fox isn’t close to any railway station, but can be reached using the 146 or 246 buses from Central Bromley. Alight at Keston/The Fox. Three real ales normally available.
The social continues at The Greyhound, which was voted Bromley CAMRA’s Pub of the Year for 2017 and offers a changing range of up to 6 real ales. Landlord and Doom Bar are always available. It is barely 100 yards away from The Fox Inn. Attendees should note that as at the time of writing the Greyhound offers a special deal on Mondays whereby one of the real ales is offered at £2.95 per pint. A 30p discount is available to CAMRA members on the other cask ales.
For those joining the crawl here, the travel instructions are the same as for The Fox Inn.
