Tuesday 12 January 2010

The Royal Oak

Hesitantly pushing the wooden door open from the dark, cold street, we entered and walked up to the small bar. The biggest woman I have ever seen loomed over us and began pouring our drinks (I had to check the floor behind the bar wasn't a raised platform, she was of such colossal size). Glancing at TV as we paid, I noticed the screen was frozen on a certain meerkat advert, and one of the locals was chatting about how he "doesn't get it". I can assume the lack of intelligence was limited due to months of staring at a broken Freeview box.
A shady character sat in the corner on his own, he never moved from his seat and the barmaid took all his drinks directly to him. Upon near closing time, he abruptly got up and left, leaving an untouched pint on his table. This started a domestic between the barmaid and the owner. It was at this point we felt it was time to go.
I like traditional pubs but The Royal Oak was lacking energy and on the whole, felt rather stale.
-Alex

Another pub off the beaten track, well, the main road between Kingston and Richmond at least, the royal oak appears a lot bigger on the outside then inside, the bar itself seems to take up a majority of the floorspace, but this didn't seem to be much of a problem this evening as the level of trade was relatively low, the half of the pub we sat in only had the four of us and one lone mane reading the paper at the back. There is something very unremarkable about this place, it is defiantly a local and I think its more of a place you go to with a few friends for a catch up than an evening out as the amenities within are very few.
-Andrew

Pub facilities / features:

Sandwiches served
Bar snacks
Real ale (was off)
Dartboard
Sports screen
Pint of Fosters, pint of Guinness, JD & Coke J20:

£11.20
Alex - 4.7
Andrew - 5.0
Dave - 6.1
Oliver - ?

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