Every now and then you find yourself rooting for someone or something and you’re not totally sure why.

It could be a team you have no connection to or a pop star pushing for Christmas number one whose album you’ve never bought but for some reason you want to see them succeed.

That’s how I’ve come to feel about One Inn the Wood.

The Shopper offices are no longer just around the corner, I don’t know the owners or anyone who drinks there but whenever I read about this excellent little micropub winning yet another award a smile breaks out across my face.

So approaching Petts Wood’s littlest drinking hole last week and seeing first the outside tables fully occupied and then inside standing room only was really very pleasing.

Apparently there are enough local drinkers who feel the same as me about this place.

We have all heard how tough it is to be a publican and it can only be more so when your bar is barely big enough to swing a cat but One Inn the Wood is proof that if you do something properly then people will respond accordingly.

For those who don’t know One Inn the Wood, here’s how it works: it’s a micropub based in a small unit in Petts Wood Road. It serves half a dozen cracking locally-brewed ales on rotation – including three from Tonbridge Brewery – as well as select ciders and a handful of appealing wines and non-alcoholic drinks.

As a micropub, there’s a no mobile phone policy, no fruit machines and no music. The idea is you sit and chat. And you know what, it’s not a gimmick and it really works.

Sure the clientele was predominantly male and over 40 but the atmosphere was friendly and it was a genuinely nice place to sit and appreciate a beer.

The walls are increasingly decorated with the pump clips of the hundreds of ales previously served – including our own 50th anniversary ale Shopper Gold – and it is worth checking out the map in the corner of Kent’s micropubs and breweries.

A leaflet for a thing called the Kent Rail Ale Trail also caught the PubSpy’s eye and got me planning a future day out.

The grog came in surprisingly decent value too. At between £3.40 and £3.80 a pint, it is clearly never competing with the Wetherspoons a five minute walk away where you can get a Ruddles for £1.99 but at the same time these aren’t pocket-busting prices either.

Aside from the possibility of not finding a seat, the biggest drawback to One Inn the Wood so far as I can see is the price of the snacks. I have no doubt the gourmet sausage rolls etc are outstanding but there was little chance of me finding out at a fiver a pop.

Not that I want to mention the Spoons again, but I think we’re all aware you could almost buy a whole meal for that money over the road.

One Inn the Wood, Petts Wood Road, Petts Wood

How it rated:

Décor **** Deliberately basic but fetching and someone has stuck a dog on the woodland wall

Atmosphere ***** Very friendly

Staff **** Good, knowledgable

Price **** Pretty decent considering the quality offering

Drink ***** A brilliant range