Royal Oak

A great local pub, with lovely staff. Charlotte gives great service with a smile every time.

I hardly felt welcome. My mother went in to use the toilet, and while I waited I bought a Diet Coke so I wasn’t using the place without making a purchase. The landlord gave me a dirty look and asked, “is that all you’re having? What does she want?” I said, “yeah, is that alright?” He answered grumpily and left me alone. The Royal Oak is a public house, so people from the public will come in. Don’t get upset when they do. Some money is better than none. We were visiting the area on holiday and might have come back if we’d been treated better. The landlord cut off his nose to spite his face. Good luck, bud.

The barmaid greeted us, but by then we’d already decided it didn’t feel worth the risk to eat there. Walking through the door, the pool table area was on the left, and a pile of clutter was to the right. We carried on to the bar, where the smell got worse. The landlord’s reception was horrible. The place seemed dirty, smelly and gloomy. I wouldn’t recommend anyone go in, let alone eat or drink there.

The lady behind the bar was very friendly, and the Guinness was good. But the cleanliness was another matter. In the courtyard garden there were dead Christmas trees and rotten tables. The pub’s decor felt all over the place: one moment it looked like a comic convention, then around the next corner there were Buddhas, skulls and grizzly bears. It made me wonder what the kitchens were like if the pub was this dirty. We didn’t eat.