The Royal Oak, Richmond

will be turned into housing

On entering I didn’t spot any handpumps immediately, but luckily on approaching the bar counter a lone London Pride clipped pump was revealed to view, hidden behind some garish lager fonts. Fortunately it wasn’t just for show, and the Pride tasted as Pride should taste. They only do food on Sunday lunch lunchtimes, with the lunch advertised at around £7 as I recall. This is a reasonably comfortable pub, furnished with red upholstered banquettes and normal tables and chairs. A narrow shelf high up on one of the walls bears a selection of steins, jugs and the like, and an unusual decorative feature is the ancient typewriter sitting at one end of the bar counter. The bar counter is an odd design, with part of it jutting out into the left hand side of the room. This undoubtedly results from the fact that there would have been two separate rooms at some stage, as evidenced by the unused door near the corner of the pub. It was very quiet at lunchtime last Thursday, with only three other drinkers in there – two women, one of whom was breastfeeding her baby. I thought this was quite a nice little pub; not really worth going well out of your way to find, but OK to stop off for a pint if you’re walking up to Ham House, as I was on Thursday.