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<\/a><\/div>\nI\u2019m still working towards That meant getting off at Before describing the day The Tonbridge\u2013Redhill In\u00a01868<\/strong>, I became a regular user of the Tonbridge-Redhill<\/b> line, when Quite a task, but I was 40 years <\/b>younger then, as were my The latter town whilst not within the West Kent <\/b>area, provided So, what were the two pubs that I visited the other day? The Station Pub <\/b>was much larger Outside, a couple were enjoying It was also overly chilled, The train was more or less on Returning to the pub visits, I
\nago, and seeing as I\u2019d been such a dutiful husband, and sorted out \u2014 or “partially”<\/b><\/i>\u00a0sorted out, to be more accurate, the disorganised kitchen in our extension (the
\n\u201cold kitchen\u201d,<\/i><\/b> as it\u2019s now been designated), I felt fully justified the
\nfollowing morning, in abandoning Mrs PBT\u2019s<\/b> to finish the job. Spoiler alert:<\/b>
\nshe didn\u2019t finish it. I\u2019ll be doing that next week, because despite my wife’s\u00a0 protestations to the contrary, I remain the tidiest and most organised of the
\npair of us. Anyway, that\u2019s enough of our domestic
\nshenanigans. The real question was: where to go?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nbeating last year\u2019s target of visiting 106 different<\/b> pubs over the course of a calendar year.
\nBefore Friday,<\/b> my total stood at 96<\/b>, and seeing as I managed to tick off two
\nmore that day, including one that was totally new to me, I\u2019m now languishing at
\n98 pubs<\/b>, with the aim of hitting the magic ton by next weekend. There are still
\nquite a few pubs left for me to tick off in Tunbridge Wells,<\/b> but I fancied
\ngoing somewhere a little different. And what better idea than to hop on a train
\nalong the Tonbridge-Redhill<\/b> line, heading towards the latter town but alighting
\none stop before that important rail junction?<\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nNutfield<\/b>, a large village that is the final stop before Redhill.<\/b> It\u2019s a place that
\nI\u2019d never visited before, not by car and certainly not by rail, and more
\nimportantly, I realised I could pick up a pub in Edenbridge<\/b> on the same outing.
\nThe place I had in mind was a pub that I hadn\u2019t set foot in for thirty\u2011plus
\nyears. So that\u2019s exactly what I did.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nitself, here are a few facts and figures about the Tonbridge-Redhill<\/b> line, a
\nroute that was once the main railway artery between the capital and the Kent coast<\/b>.
\nRather than bury myself in dates and statistics (which, knowing me, would have
\ntaken all afternoon), I let my Copilot<\/b> friend do the research instead, and this
\nis what it came back with.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\n<\/strong>railway, <\/span><\/span>historically known as the Redhill\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>line, <\/span>is
\none of the oldest sections of main\u2011line railway infrastructure in the Southeast.<\/b>
\nIts story is surprisingly rich for a line that today feels like a quiet local
\nshuttle, so make yourselves comfortable and read on.\u00a0The Tonbridge- Redhill <\/b>line opened in May<\/b> 1842<\/span><\/strong>, after being authorised
\nby Parliament <\/b>in 1836<\/span><\/strong><\/span>.
\nIt was part of the South-Eastern Railway\u2019s <\/b>original London-Dover<\/b> main line, running
\nfrom Redhill<\/b> through to Tonbridge.<\/b> Because it was intended for fast long\u2011distance
\nrunning, it was designed with few curves<\/span><\/span>
\nand little concern for local population centres, which is why today, many
\nstations sit some distance from the villages they serve.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\n<\/span>the SER<\/b> opened a new, and more direct main line via Orpington and Sevenoaks<\/strong>,<\/span> with
\nseveral major tunnels and faster running times. This relegated the
\nTonbridge-Redhill<\/b> line to local
\nservice <\/span><\/span><\/b>status. The line became part of Southern Railway<\/strong> i<\/span>n 1923<\/b>, and then British Railways Southern Region<\/strong>
\ni<\/span><\/span>n 1948. <\/b>Steam services ended in 1965<\/span><\/strong>
\nand were replaced by diesel multiple units.Electrification,<\/b>\u00a0 750 V DC third rail<\/b>, was authorised in 1990<\/span><\/strong> and completed in 1993\u201394<\/span><\/strong><\/span>, a <\/span>process<\/span><\/span> that <\/span><\/strong>allowed
\nthe role of the line to shift again, to a diversionary line for both Eurostar,<\/b>
\nas well as Southeastern<\/b> services, before settling back into today\u2019s all\u2011stations
\nshuttle.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nI moved to Tonbridge <\/b>at the tail end of 1984,<\/b> because coinciding with my change
\nof address, was me joining, a moribund CAMRA<\/b> branch, and helping to get it back
\non its feet. So, what was originally the Tonbridge & Tunbridge Wells<\/b> branch
\nof CAMRA<\/b>, eventually became West Kent <\/b>branch.<\/b> I shan\u2019t go into any more details
\nhere, but having re-established the branch and formed a new committee, we were
\ncharged with surveying all the pubs in the area (keg as well as cask), with a view
\nto selecting suitable pubs for the following year\u2019s Good Beer Guide.<\/b> <\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nfellow new committee members. One stipulation we made was that future branch
\nmeetings should be held at pubs that were accessible, as much as possible, by
\npublic transport, and with few bus services operating into the evening, this
\neffectively meant places close to a station. It was during these surveys that I
\nfirst became acquainted with settlements along the Tonbridge- Redhill <\/b>line, including
\nLeigh, Chiddingstone Causeway, Edenbridge<\/b> and Redhill <\/b>itself. <\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nan ideal meeting point for socials with one of the neighbouring Surrey <\/b>branches.
\nThe Home Cottage,<\/b> owned by Young\u2019s Brewery, <\/b>was the pub of choice, given its
\nproximity to Redhill s<\/b>tation. I also starting using the line for other purposes,
\nsuch as travel to work, where Penshurst<\/b> station, provides an occasional
\nalternative to driving. The line is also useful for travel to and from Gatwick
\nAirport, <\/b>even if it does involve a change of platform at Redhill.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nFirst up was the Station Pub<\/a><\/u><\/b>, in Nutfield <\/b>which, as its name suggests, is literally
\na stone\u2019s throw from the station. Just walk away from the down platform, turn
\nthe corner, and less than five minutes later, you will come across this large,
\nand much altered, late-Victorian <\/b>establishment. The pub was built for the
\nReigate Brewery<\/b> of Mellersh & Neale,<\/b> to serve the community that was growing
\nup around Nuffield<\/b> railway station.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nthan I had expected, although the name “Hotel<\/b><\/i><\/span>\u201d
\n<\/b><\/i>ought perhaps to have given the game away. I\u2019m assuming that in its heyday, the place must
\nhave provided accommodation for travellers, and those stepping inside will be
\ngreeted by a number of bright and characterful rooms, overlooking a well-laid
\nout, rear garden. Today, the pub proudly proclaims that it\u2019s a drinks-focused
\npub, with no kitchen and no fuss, but that doesn’t mean visitors will go
\nhungry. Instead, a range of regular, food \u201cpop-up partners\u201d<\/i><\/b> bring something
\nspecial to the table when they visit. I didn\u2019t find out when the food might be,
\nas having breakfasted just a few hours ago I wasn\u2019t exactly hungry. <\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nthe early October<\/b> sunshine, while a group of fella\u2019s sat towards the back of
\nthe pub. I noticed a woman who I\u2019d seen on the train, standing at the bar. She
\nseemed to know the barmaid and must have hurried away from the station to get
\nthere before me. The pair paused their conversation to allow the barmaid to serve
\nme, offering a choice Taylor\u2019s Landlord <\/b>\u2013 complete with the new look pump clip,
\na Hobgoblin<\/b> ale of some description, and the ubiquitous Harvey’s Best<\/b>. I opted
\nfor the latter, but unfortunately, it wasn\u2019t the best pint of Sussex<\/b> that I\u2019ve
\nhad recently. It wasn\u2019t off and it wasn\u2019t flat, and if anything, it tasted too
\nyoung.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nwhich didn\u2019t help either, which meant I was struggling to finish it. I also realised
\nthat my train back towards Edenbridge <\/b>was due shortly, so I returned about a
\nquarter of the unfinished pint to the bar and apologised to the girl by explaining
\nthat I wasn\u2019t feeling particularly bright. A white lie<\/b> I know, but one that
\nprevented a minor diplomatic incident, without bruising anyone’s ego! I then headed back to the station,
\ncrossed the footbridge, and waited for the next service back towards Tonbridge.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\ntime, and after passing through Godstone,<\/b> it wasn\u2019t long before we arrived at Edenbridge<\/b>.
\nThere are two rail stations serving the town, with the one at the top, and the one
\nI arrived at, simply called Edenbridge.<\/b> From here it is about a 20-minute <\/b>walk
\ndown to the town centre, where, just beyond the centre of the Old Town<\/b>, lies
\nEdenbridge Town<\/b> station. This station is on a completely separate rail line
\nrunning towards\u00a0Uckfield<\/b>, via<\/span>\u00a0Eridge\u00a0<\/b><\/span>and<\/span>\u00a0Crowborough\u00a0 <\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nleft the train at Edenbridge<\/b> station (the top one), and walked through a new
\nhousing development, which partly occupies the site of the former Albion<\/b> pub, a
\nlong-vanished establishment that I had only visited a couple of times before.
\nFrom there, I continued northwards, and away from the town, along the B2026<\/b>. \u00a0<\/span>A short distance further, in the area known as
\nMarlpit Hill<\/b>, is the Swan Inn.<\/a><\/u><\/b><\/p>\n