The Royal Duke, Oakham

The Royal Duke has left and right bars that are attended by a central serving area. During a recent Tuesday evening visit the left-hand side was empty with the only action being an AFCON football match courtesy of TNT Sport. Wandering into the right-hand bar I found a couple of twenty-something locals at the bar counter with the friendly barmaid who was eating a Chinese take-away. The football was also on in here, and I noted a dartboard by the entrance. In the rear is a pool table in a separate room. This is a basic local’s boozer with only standard and premium keg options that aren’t going to draw in out-of-towners.

Basic, if refurbished, side-street local on the far side of the level crossing. Retains two separate bars (each small) and a rear room with a pool table, with all parts plainly decorated. No real ale unfortunately, but oddly both John Smith's and Worthington's (£2.00, half) available from the keg taps.

The Royal Duke is a smallish stand alone pub that is a short walk from the middle of Oakham. The pub still had its old John Smiths signs outside which was nice to see,i can remember them from the late 80s. Once inside the pub still has two seperate rooms,we went in the bar which was to the right,this was a smallish oblong shaped room that was carpeted and had club type chairs,the lounge to the left was similar in shape and empty on our Saturday dinner visit,there was a seperate pool room to the rear left. There were no real ales on the bar,the keg bitter was John Smiths smooth crap which was a pretty poor drink. This is the sort of pub that the smoking ban usually hits first,but this one was very busy inside and smokers outside to the rear. I like proper pubs like this,just a shame there was not one real ale on. Pub visited 19/10/2013