The Royal Oak, Borough, SE1

Official site of The Royal Oak - www.royaloaklondon.co.uk

A traditional, street corner boozer in what appears to be a residential part of town slightly off the tourist trail, this pub is unlikely to have changed much for decades even down to the fact that they still have net curtains hung up in the windows – not something you see very often these days! Internally it’s actually one large, open plan room, although the woodwork that forms part of the central bar is effectively a partition dividing it in to two. Decor wise it’s very traditional with wooden boards and a large rug on the floor, cream paintwork on the upper part of the walls and dark wood panelling below. The rear room looked to be broadly similar, although perhaps a little cosier with maroon paintwork. I understand that The Telegraph rated it one of the top ten pubs in the UK a couple of years back, so it was surprising how quiet it was on our recent Tuesday evening visit. Food wise, the menu offered a decent election of “pub grub” dishes such as fish & chips, burger, scampi & chips, steak & ale pie, etc., and these were mostly priced around a tenner. A specials board offered a few slightly more up-market dishes, although certainly nothing pretentious or gastro. Our ham, egg & chips was a decent portion with four slices of ham, plenty of chips and a couple of eggs, although on the downside the ham seemed like it was out of a packet and the egg yolks were solid. Nonetheless though, a decent enough dish and good value. Beers on tap were all from the Harvey’s stable with their Mild, Pale, Best, Old and Armada. The solitary cider was Symond’s Founders Reserve although it looked as though a pump for Thacther’s Heritage had run out – a shame, as that’s a rare find around these parts and would have gone down a treat.

This was a Courage pub before Harvey's took it over something like twenty years ago. As noted many times below it's an unspoilt two room pub with the servery bridging the two rooms. There is an upstairs function / dining room. There are hand pumps in both bars but I think on the day there were just four Harvey's beer on. I went for their Christmas Ale which was in good nick but at six quid a pint silly money even for a 7.5% beer. This was my favourite of the three Harvey's London pubs and has been a GBG regular since after it first opened as one of their houses. It's a good place but like the vast majority of pubs in London and the South let down by needlessly high prices.

Lovely unspoiled Victorian pub that you need to go out of way to find. Decent beers from Harvey's but go for the experience. Some photos at my blog - http://bit.ly/2cYVT2P

Now opens normally on Saturday, abandoning its previous (& bizarre) 18:00 start, although very quiet around 14:00 so maybe word isn't out yet or, as the barman suggested, it could have been rugby affected (no tv here). Ales yesterday as per LGA's att'd list & the Best, Armada, & Porter were in fine fettle. 11 May 2007 Always considered this pub first rate with quality Harvey's ales, good layout & decor, lovely food (based on a single experience) and friendly service. This week, however, I had a most unfortunate experience when the barman (E.Euro, I think) sneezed into his hands before serving me then reached straight for a pint glass without giving a thought to washing first. It quite put me off my beer; I must give the Royal Oak a low rating and a wide berth until I manage to erase the incident from my mind.