The Royal Oak, Brecon

Facebook page of The Royal Oak - www.facebook.com

Facebook page of The Royal Oak - www.facebook.com

Official site of The Royal Oak - www.theroyaloakpencelli.com

Official site of The Royal Oak - www.theroyaloakpencelli.com

It had been a cold day for cycling, so I was glad of the offer to warm myself by the solid fuel stove in the larger of the two rooms. As Steve says below, the bar makes an appearance in both rooms, the smaller to the left having the character of a public bar, with the larger room to the right (presumably once two smaller rooms) more like a dining room or lounge. Two other cyclists were there before me, so we swapped stories of routes and bikes and pubs, like you do. On the bar were three beers (some hand pumps in each room but not necessarily all connected to barrels): Greene King Old Golden Hen, Brains Reverend James and Tudor Black Rock. I'm glad the Black Rock was on, because a) it's a very nice beer, albeit a little strong at 5.6% when cycling, and b) it would have been a disappointing beer offering otherwise. Date of visit: 4th October 2017

The Royal Oak is a nice looking white washed stone pub in the small village of Pencilli. Not the biggest space inside with two small bars, but it does benefit from a large external garden space behind the pub which stretches up to the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal. On entering through the front door there is some nice stained glass in the door surrounds and then you enter left into more of a bar section or right into more of a dining section, both of which have thick stone walls, low beamed ceilings, assorted pine furniture on polished flagstones, open fireplaces and each with their own section of the central bar with three ale hand pumps. The section on the right has some rugby memorabilia in the shape of a frame with autographed Wales and Harlequins rugby shirts and then a collection of rugby tickets glued to one of the ceiling beams. The barman explained that this was due to one of the lads from the village who made the grade at both club and international level and now coaches at Worcester. Two of the three handpumps were in operation with Brecon Brewing Jazzy Beacons and Tomos Watkins OSB and both were in good condition. We did eat here and the food was very good. Quite a small menu and mostly cold dishes so not a great deal of choice, but could not fault our Three Cheese Ploughmans and Prawn Salad, both of which were very fresh and flavoursome.