Royal Oak, Burton on Trent

Facebook page of Royal Oak - www.facebook.com

Facebook page of Royal Oak - www.facebook.com

A charming village local ,away from the other pubs and well worth the detour.The interior is classic old school with a bar room to the left of the entrance with quarry tiling,a decent fire place and a screen above,swithed off despite Burton Albion featuring in the playoffs that night.To the right is more of a lounge ,but the interior space meets in a cosy back bar area with carpet laid to flagstones around the serving L shaped bar.Untouched by any trace of a modern makeover,the interior is quite special in it's own way. A Marston's tied house with Banks's Cerial Thriller,"Morells" Varsity and Pedigree on offer.The very friendly barmaid offered me Pedi straight from the barrel which I went with only to discover that this beer is better pulled through a tight sparkler.She must have clocked me as a soft southern CAMRA type. Very much a community local but ever so friendly and the winner of many local CAMRA branch awards,worth the long hack from the canal to get some old fashioned pub atmosphere.

The Royal Oak is a nice looking pub that is situated away from the middle of Barton. Once inside there was a decent sized bar to the left,this room had a tiled floor and the bar was facing,there were a few copper topped tables and some larger wood tables,there was a lounge to the right which was carpeted and in darkness on our visit here. This pub is a Marstons tied house and there were two real ales on the bar,i asked for a drink of Pedigree and the landlord asked if i wanted it from the pump or straight from the barrel i opted for the barrel the beer was served with no head on it but it was probably the best drink of Pedigree i have had in recent years,the other beer was Jennings Cocker Hoop. There was some decent music playing and the pub had a really nice atmosphere to it. I really liked this pub. The pub has been voted Camra area pub of the year for 2012. Pub visited 29/9/2012

A lovely detached undressed brick Marston's pub. It is in two parts, a larger early Victorian looking 'farmhouse' with an extension on the front, and a low-level side room. There is a front patio and rear beer garden with kids play area. The interior has a couple of room, one of which, i think, is a children's room, presumably in the low-level side room - i didn't see that! The main room is both the bar and the lounge, having separate doors to the laft and right on entry, i assume that they were at one time two rooms. The bar is to the left and is in white and red, with white ceiling and red tile floor. There is a massive exposed brick fireplace, with near separates the bar from the lounge. There are plates, and other ephemera, old photos and pictures of their footy team. There is also a dart board. The Lounge is cream and red, with a white ceiling, but with carpet. It is nearly partitioned in half itself, and has exposed beams as well. There are also plates and photos. There are a few TVs around, showing the footy at my last visit. The service is really good and the clientele mixed - it being pretty busy. There was general music at a decent level. Beer; tap stuff, but no MILD. There were three handpulls, with Bass, Pedigree and Jennings Golden Host, which was fine. This is a nice pub and well worth a visit despite just being down from the main Barton High St. It has been voted CAMRA area pub for about the last 600 years!