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Beer of the Week (w/e 27th April 2025) with Thuck Phat
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Detail Pages
The Royal Oak, Halifax
Halifax
HX1 2HX
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7 of 10) see review guidelines
Blue Scrumpy left this review about The Royal Oak
The Royal Oak stands in a fairly prominent location at a junction. A large poster on the side proclaimed its entry in the 2016 Good Beer Guide, albeit the pub was called Dirty Dick's Food & Ale Emporium back then. It hasn't made the Good Beer Guide since then, the reason for which soon became apparent.
Inside there is a fairly dimly lit interior with one large sub-divided room around the bar and a separate games room where a few young locals were playing pool. As has been said below, much of the woodwork comes from HMS Newcastle.
At the bar, the house beer (Royal Oak) is from Acorn and Saltaire Blonde is also a regular. Guests for our visit were Timothy Taylor Landlord & Landlord Dark & Titanic Plum Porter. CAMRA discounts were offered even on halves, if you asked for them. However, the conditioning of the cask let it down. I chose the Royal Oak which was the worst quality beer I had during the day. I suspect it was their Yorkshire Pride re-badged.
More of a locals' pub than most of the other places we visited in Halifax, with quite a few down-to-earth characters. TVs were showing sports.
On 15th July 2024
- rating: 5
[User has posted 3040 recommendations about 3038 pubs]
Moby Duck left this review about The Royal Oak
A traditional pub with an old school locals feel about it, the beer lineup was decent as described by BF below, I went with the Landlord Dark which was in fine form.It's maybe not an "A" list pub but more than worth a visit.
On 14th July 2024
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2151 recommendations about 2118 pubs]
Tris C left this review about The Royal Oak
Dating from 1931, this is a brewers’ Tudor extravaganza, the beams upcycled from HMS Newcastle, perhaps washed up on Geordie shore? This pub is grade II-listed, attracting * heritage from CAMRA where photos can be seen. Situated in an area where certain activities are a bit ‘King’s Cross Lite’ in days of old, me propositioned by the ‘professional lady’ referenced by BF, who upon being rebuffed, barked ‘Keep your eyes off the prize then!’.
The interior is rather underappreciated, with much heritage covered with tat such as flyers and sports’ fixtures, with at least one games machine and sport on TVs; customers were certainly earthy old-school locals.
My half of Plum Porter (£1.90 and charged to the Cock & Bottle by Apple Pay) was definitely on the turn, others in our group commenting unfavourably on the quality of their ale, a barman frantically pulling whole pints to taste (or just sampling customers’ drinks?) yet being either blind to their quality or just not prepared to reverse the pump clips.
The pub can’t help its location, but it really could do with a shakeup, but it’s worth a visit for the architecture, if nothing else.
On 10th July 2024
- rating: 6
[User has posted 2207 recommendations about 2164 pubs]
Bucking Fastard left this review about The Royal Oak
ORIGINAL REVIEW January 2023
After visiting the very good modern bars nearby,quite a relief to pop into this old school boozer in a very fine ,large street corner building with lots of brewers tudor on display.
The interior is quite dark but atmospheric with two main sections next to the two entrance doors both with real fires belting out much needed heat on a cold day.Dark wood panelling,traditional furniture with lots of long bench seating,there is even room for a discrete pool room to the left side.The bar serves all the sections and has an array of handpumps along the lenght so inspect fully.Some double clipping but the selection on my Wednesday afternnon visit was TT Landlord,Acorn Royal Oak,Titanic Plum Porter and a decent Saltaire Blonde (NBSS 4).Good line up.
The interior is well worn but in a good way and music events are advertised.Friendly welcome ,deserves it's 2023 GBG listing and shouldn't be missed on any ale tour of town,I really enjoyed it's basic vibe.
UPDATE
A return on the PuG crawl but sadly ale quality had fallen quite a bit .My Saltaire Blonde was tired ,NBSS 2.5. A downgrade from me,professional lady hanging around outside.There are better pubs in town.
On 30th June 2024
- rating: 6
[User has posted 2936 recommendations about 2936 pubs]
Steve of N21 left this review about The Royal Oak
This one provides quite a contrast to all the fairly new shiny craft beer bars in town, in that it is a traditional decor two-room pub whose interior has clearly seen some life, something that you could also say about it’s clientele on this particular early Friday evening. But it was a friendly enough pub and you can overlook the shabbiness of the interior for the decent range of ales on the bar. For our visit five different ales were spread amongst the eight hand pumps in the shape of TT Landlord and Landlord Dark, Acorn Royal Oak, Titanic Plum Porter and Saltaire Blonde and good to see a CAMRA discount offered.
A good option when you fancy a decent ale in a more earthy old school environment.
On 22nd June 2024
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2236 recommendations about 2098 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about The Royal Oak
Lovely GII listed building on a junction. A sign outside proclaims its inclusion in the 2016 GBG, which it really is now time to retire - it’s not in the 2022 edition!. The CAMRA Inventory listed interior, which is nicely laid out and has some decent brewer’s tudor fittings (some salvaged from the breaking-up of HMS Newcastle), has moved from lived-in to shabby; scuffed floor, mismatched banquette fabric and in some places worn to the quick. Work, where it has been done (eg the varnishing of the wood panelling) is slapdash. A wait at the bar whilst Martin Freeman's unlucky brother was on a call exasperatedly telling some goon elsewhere that if the girl signed for the delivery, they can't now get him to complain that half of it was missing. Eight pumps with five on, three from Acorn and singles from Saltaire and GK. I wasn’t expecting much, so was delighted to find that my Acorn Moor Porter was really good (NBSS 4) so on that score this place is better than some of the more lauded outlets nearby who were serving warm, pump-tired cask.
On 25th June 2022
- rating: 7
[User has posted 5552 recommendations about 5533 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Brainy Pool left this review about The Royal Oak
a two roomed pub with a main room split into two drinking areas and a pool room at the far end. it’s a fairly basic, grimy place inside with entirely older drinkers in today. The nine real ales make it well worth visiting though, as I could have happily worked through them all. my pint was cheap.
On 28th September 2019
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1174 recommendations about 1136 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
aleand hearty left this review about The Royal Oak
Dirty Dick's is now under new management and has reverted back to its former name The Royal Oak.
On 13th April 2017
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 644 recommendations about 624 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Real Ale Ray left this review about Dirty Dick's Ale House
A good traditional pub, with a selection of 9 ales and 4 ciders. This included a Dirty Dicks ale 4.2% brewed by Empire. The interior was mock Tudor, with oak panelling and a mock Tudor fireplace, Black ceiling beams and a pot shelf above the bar. The windows were leaded with some stained glass motifs. The Gents loos had the original Oates + Creen Halifax and London sanitary ware.
The pub attracts an older crowd, who enjoy a good pint of ale. We went for the Newby Wyke Grantham Gold and their Dirty Dicks ale, both were well kept.
On 21st June 2015
- rating: 8
[User has posted 3644 recommendations about 3644 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about Dirty Dick's Ale House
Impressive 'Brewer's Tudor' façade. Once inside, you find plenty of dark wood panelling and leather bench seats in main bar. There is also a smaller side room with a few pew-type bench seats. Very popular early on a Friday evening. Nine real ales and two ciders on handpump - excellent choice but opted for Stancill Barnsley Bitter at £2.30. Well worth a visit.
On 22nd February 2015
- rating: 8
[User has posted 8679 recommendations about 8678 pubs]