Royal Oak, Settle

Hotel type bar, elegantly furnished, carpeted and panelled with some neat carved wood. Smaller inside than the outside suggests it is a single large room although obviously it was not always so. The front area has a large screen, dart board, fruit machine and a pool table. Sofas and armchairs congregate around the screen, it’s pretty much wooden tables and chairs elsewhere, a few stools around a cask sit near the unusual revolving main door. More down to earth punters than the Golden Lion and a wee bit younger, they may have to look up the undertaker’s number rather than have it on speed dial. Four pulls on the counter, Black Sheep, Butcombe. Jennings (reversed) and Old Rosie. Not bad condition just a touch mundane.

A largely well-preserved old fashioned hotel, with a famous revolving front door and wood panelling throughout, some of it unfortunately painted in a strange shade of greenish grey. I would have expected a place like this to have a slightly formal air to it, but in fact it's on the scruffy side of sloppy, which is not necessarily a bad thing. There are four hand pumps on the bar, with a cider on one (Old Rosie) and three real ales: Black Sheep Best Bitter, Robinsons Dizzy Blonde and Butcombe Bitter. My Black Sheep was in good condition and I wouldn't mind coming here again, though the Talbot remains my favourite pub in Settle.

Pretty dead on both my visits (most recent being a weekday lunch time at the start of December). Inside the pub is lovely and traditional, a nice real fire, and must be doing something wrong not to be busy compared to the Talbot Arms, for example. A handful of people entered after me, some looked like regulars and some tourists. It feels like the kind of place people go to when the good pubs are full. It's a big pub and seems such a waste. At the bar there were four pumps, of which two were off. Sea Fury by Sharp's was available plus John Smith's (which had a paper label printed out and stuck over the top of a Theakston pump clip). My Sea Fury was served with a fairly large head. On my previous visit the only real ale had been Theakston Best Bitter. A whole room to the right of the pub is laid out for dining, but I didn't see any evidence of anyone eating. A very peculiar place really.