The Roebuck, Oval, SW8

The Roebuck is a nice looking pub that is situated in a very quiet area close to oval cricket ground and a council estate. Once inside there is a single oblonish shaped room, the bar faces,the left side was bare boarded and had mainly normal tables and chairs,there was a comfy bench seat in the bay window,there was also a couple of tall tables and chairs in the middle area,there is a conservatory to the rear right. There were two real ales on the bar,i had a drink of Bombardier Gold which was a very nice drink even though it was the first drink pulled that day,the other beer was Doom Bar. Board games are available,the background music was Jazz type. I thought this was a smart and comfortable pub to have a drink in. The pub is Cask Marque accredited. Pub visited 2/8/2014

Real ales on were Young’s Bitter and Bombardier. I had the Young’s Bitter (£3.10 a pint), which was not good, but I suspect that I may have had the first one of the day. Tucked away as it is down Ashmole St, I doubt that it gets much, if any, passing trade, but it probably gets busy on Oval match days. All the tables had cutlery on them in little tin buckets. So, presumably food must be important to them, but I didn’t see any menus. It’s a fairly big one-room pub, but expanded with a conservatory at the back, plus a covered outside area for smokers. As usual there are TVs on the walls, but not on when I was in during lunchtime, and some pop music being played – including Petula Clark of all people. Furnishings comprised normal tables and chairs, plus a couple of sofas in one of the front window bays, and the décor was unremarkable (I can’t remember what it looked like, so there can’t have been anything special about it). All in all an unremarkable pub. I won’t hold one dodgy pint against a pub – I could have been just unlucky. Not really worth the effort of seeking out for the pub itself, but no doubt OK for a pint or two after the cricket.