Sunday Lunch at The Halfway House, Brenchley

If you want Sunday lunch like it used to be, then The Halfway House could be the pub for you.

It’s a pub like pubs used to be before they became owned by ‘independent chains’. We have so many of them around here in Kent, those more-than-pub pubs that in their quest to do things a bit differently, have all ended up being basically the same.  The grey to sage paint with white writing, the brioche buns and skinny fries and £8 for a 250ml glass of Malbec. I’m not knocking that – well, maybe the wine prices – but sometimes on a Sunday lunch you don’t want potato fondant and red wine jus, you just want roast spuds and gravy.

The Halfway House isn’t new. It’s been there, at a guess, at least a couple of hundred years. My cursory research has turned up very little on its history or the origins of its name for that matter. Where is it halfway between?

From the outside, it’s a typical British pub and garden. Hanging baskets explode over the red-brick front, a large car park, two areas of pub garden (one for children, one not, perhaps?) and there’s also a new kids’ play area. It’s the sort of pub garden where you could happily lose a couple of hours in the summer sitting with friends and eating ploughman’s while the kids played, sipping coke through straws (paper straws, of course) and nibbling crisps. They have a garden bar and regular beer festivals.

When you step inside, it’s beams and brass, wood and wonder.

Look around and you’ll see crammed dusty bookshelves, a seat that looks like it fell off a tractor, blackboards arranged around an open fire and hops hanging down adorned with cobwebs. Pub paraphernalia and knickknacks are perched precariously on beams and hung from walls including an old Walkers shortbread tin and a Glenfiddich sign. Misshapen wooden tables smoothed by the hands of ravenous souls are tucked into all the nooks and crannies. I had to move my wine glass around the table until I could place it down on an even spot. Rustic charm it has in abundance and there’s no doubt that on any given day there should be a regular propping up the bar.

The small bar is in the top room nearest the road. This is where you’ll see their drink selection and menu boards, and being a freehouse, you get a choice of “quality real ales served straight from the barrel, with between 7 and 10 different beers available every day”. Find a table, order food at the bar and your ticket is hoisted to the kitchen on a makeshift string pulley system.

On this occasion, we were out without kids and we’re taking our time, so we order our food and then settle at our table with the Sunday papers taking in the comings and goings of this busy pub. A regular having a chinwag with the bar lady, dogs off their leads sniffing around under tables for easy pickings, the phone ringing with reservations, and a family breaking up their walk with a lunchtime interlude ordering scampi & chips – “does she want beans or peas with that?”

What we ate

The Sunday roast was a choice of lamb, beef or half a chicken served with Yorkshire pudding, vegetables and gravy. For a little extra, you can have all three meats. Nice. Desserts include a crumble, fudge cake, Eton mess and syrup sponge.

I had the roast leg of lamb and Shaun ate the beef. When the plates arrive, they’re already full of meat,  crispy roast potatoes, fluffy Yorkshire puddings and lashings of gravy. To serve on the side, a selection of cauliflower, carrots and mangetout.

I need to eat a little lamb first to make space on the plate taking care that the gravy doesn’t slide off in my direction due to the uneven table. But once some cauliflower and carrots are on there, too, I’m safe. The food is delicious, comforting and satisfying. No room for dessert this time.

Roast Lamb £11.50

Roast Beef £11.50

Pint of Goachers ale £3.50

Large Glass Shiraz £5

Another bonus of being a freehouse, I assume, is being able to set their own prices for drinks. I couldn’t believe how reasonable the beer and wine were in comparison to our more local pubs.

We’ve been to The Halfway House for Sunday lunch several times over the years and it’s always been spot on. It’s what we went for – a Sunday roast – no frills.