Olde Royal Oak, Burton On Trent Town, Burton on Trent

Down one end of Burton’s market Square, this is a smart little pub run by the Fownes Brewery. The pub has a single room layout, with carpeting throughout and the servery along the left-hand wall. The bar has a high wood panelled counter in front of a rather plain tongue and groove bar back. A couple of banquettes in the front window bays, the right one of which also boasted a lit fireplace, unlike the unused one to the left, felt like optimal spots to grab a seat, thanks to the natural light coming through the obscured panes of the front windows. The room opens out a little opposite the bar, where a high table or two afford the only seating options in a space otherwise given over to vertical drinking, but more tables and chairs appear to the right, whilst at the back of the room, a raised space acts almost like a dining area thanks to its formal table layouts, although I’m not actually sure they do food here. A decent 90’s indie soundtrack played in the background throughout my stay and a couple of other customers came and went over the course of my stay, but the place generally felt pretty quiet. Fownes beer dominated the handpulls, with options on this visit comprising Korvaks verdict, The Elephant Riders, Mermaids Tale, Royal Oak Bitter, Seven Crowns and Troll Hunter. I tried the Korvaks verdict, which was in great shape, served by a friendly barmaid and a nice drop ahead of my long schlep out to the town’s not-so-central, Central Premier Inn. I probably didn’t see this pub in its best light, due to the lack of any real post-lunch trade, but it seemed like a smart, well looked after pub with friendly service and a nice showcase for the brewery. Not quite in the top tier of Burton’s pubs for me, but not all that far off either.

Traditional town-centre pub, with quite a narrow frontage and not a great deal of depth so not a huge amount of space inside. As the Fownes Brewing Co tap, we found six of eight handpumps in use during our mid-October visit, and my Elephant Riders pale ale (£1.95, half) was in excellent shape.

My first visit since the pub reopened as the Fownes Brewery tap, whose beers were previously unknown to me. Not any more, as the quick half that I had decided to have turned into two when I appreciated the quality of the first. Both Fownes Holy Roller and their Troll Brew were in very good condition, and probably not far off deserving better than the NBSS 4 that I gave them. There's a fair chance I'll be back in Burton just to visit this one again - though it would be rude to walk past all the others on the way from or to the railway station without popping in for one or two. Date of visit: 14th October 2022

This is clearly a building with some history in a prime location to one side of the Market Place Square. I believe it’s had a bit of a chequered history and has opened and closed on several occasions over recent years and has been in danger of being closed for good on more than one occasion. Fortunately at the moment it seems to be enjoying a spell of rude health as it is now the Brewery tap for Fownes Brewing and has benefitted from an internal makeover well described by the other reviewers below. The only thing to add to the descriptions below is the back section by the toilets which houses a well tucked away dart board. The bar supports eight real ale hand pumps on the first section and a large keg tap dispensing unit on the second bar section which had a good range of the breweries products available in both cask and keg, the former probably being largely responsible for the Royal Oak being awarded the CAMRA Burton and South Derbyshire Branch Pub of the Year for 2022.
On our visit the Fownes ales on offer were Royal Oak Bitter, Elephant Riders Big Hopped Pale Ale, King Korvaks Saga Porter, Troll Brew Pale Ale, Frost Hammer Grapefruit Pale Ale and Holy Roller West Coast IPA. I went for the Grapefruit Pale Ale and it was one of the best beers of the day.
Good to find this pub functioning well and would also add it to the list of establishments not to be missed on any real ale crawl around the town of Burton.