The Hearty Oak, Dronfield

A mock-Tudor building that has been painted a funny mushroom colour which ruins its outward appearance somewhat. There’s two rooms inside, on my visit the bar to the right was operational with the other booked for some Irish-themed function. Quite high ceilinged in the right hand bar and I noted a nice dark wood carved dado though the tree silhouette wall decals won’t be to everyone’s taste. The conservatory to the rear of said bar comes with some nice stained glass and if I’d have arrived earlier when the sun was out I may have parked myself in there. Two Ashover beers were on; my Golden Valley was OK, a bit warm which indicated they hadn’t shifted any for a while. It was also a massively short measure and I had to wave my arms to get it corrected after the barmaid plonked it down and walked off; indeed the young staff seemed rather directionless and harassed in general. The clientele were an incongruous mix of young brash types and middle class eaters, I was ‘bantered’ in a faintly menacing manner at the door by a bunch of well-lubricated young men who decided that my lack of Primark-approved attire deserved comment. Overall I may have caught this on a bad day but it didn’t warrant its GBG status compared to others in the area.

The Hearty Oak is a very large pub that is on the western edge of Dronfield Woodhouse. The pub has got two large rooms i had a drink in the room to the right,this room was carpeted and had a mixture tall tables and normal tables and chairs,there was a raised area to the right and a small area down a few steps to the rear of the pub,the left room looked quite big and was on one level. There were three real ales on the bar i had a drink of Ashover Rainbows End and this was a decent drink there was another Ashover beer and Hardys and Hansons Kimberley bitter,i thought that brewery had closed down. The landlord said that he did a discount for Camra members of 50p off a pint. This pub does food and seemed fairly busy with diners but this does'nt take over in here like it does in some pubs. Pub visited 24/3/2012