Ramblers Rest, Chislehurst

Cruising around Chislehurst at night, it's all too easy to miss the Ramblers Rest, tucked away off Summer Hill, Chislehurst.

But seek and you shall find a lovely old-style pub, with good beer, friendly staff - and some of the most impolite locals I've come across in recent years.

Set off the road down a large grassy slope, which is usually well-populated during the daytime with sun-seeking drinkers, this idyllic pub could well be in a fantasy-land English village - providing you ignore the traffic noise from the busy main road.

It had been quite a few years since I'd visited this boozer, the last time being for a hair-of-the-dog remedy on a blazing summer's day.

To cut a long story short, one of my assistant spys had bought himself a new motor and was keen to show me what it could do.

Much as I enjoyed myself as we rolled around the leafy lanes of Chislehurst, the driving built up an unmistakable thirst, and we decided to repair to the Ramblers Rest for refreshments.

(And before any of you funny people write in to rant about drink-driving, I'll point out that my friend only had a Coke.)

After parking up on the hill next to the pub, we sauntered down the narrow Tarmac road to the entrance.

We were met with some cynically menacing glances from the rabble of youngsters sat drinking immediately outside the pub.

Brushing these youths off as having had one too many shandies, we went into the pub to be met with more unsociable welcomes from the older bar props.

But the barmaid who served us was friendly and polite, as was the older guy who served us our second round, suggesting the frosty reception was little to do with the staff but more to do with the locals who go there.

It seemed almost as if the regular drinkers are keen to keep The Ramblers Rest purely for themselves and not for casual outsiders.

It's for this reason I encourage as many of you as possible to dig out your A-Z and visit this superb pub with all of your friends...