Royal Oak, Wrexham

The Royal Oak is a long and thin pub with banquette seating under the front leaded windows and up the left wall under a giant stuffed horned animal head. Along the right wall is a beer shelf that runs under a long etched Joules Brewery mirror. The bar, located on the left wall at the rear, faces some seating and there’s a dartboard on the rear wall. I was the only customer and the barmaid was watching the Woman’s Euros Semi-final so there was no atmosphere. Standard and premium keg was available from the bar that also supports five handpumps. Three were unused leaving Stewarts’s Citra Blonde and Batch 1001 as the ale options. Whilst the barmaid was polite, I didn’t feel very welcome and was glad to leave.

An attractive small, narrow building almost apologetically tucked away. Inside is indeed also long and very narrow with the usual Jules mirrors and traditional wood panel décor (which is all honesty does feel rather fake), though the jumbo antelope head is a bit of a surprise. No hearting inside during a cold crisp March morning, so our coats stayed resolutely on. Five pumps with three on; Pale, Blonde (NBSS 3.5) and Slumbering Monk. No music so the ultra-loud barmaid was the centre of everything. Maybe visited at the wrong time of day but I didn’t really enjoy this one, felt fairly uncomfortable here. 5.5

Lovely small long bar, with front area with a rather large Stags Head & Joules mirrors, leading to smaller bar area. Very Joules like, traditional feel.

Joules do seem to have some great old fashioned pubs, this one being another example. As mentioned below it's a long and narrow wooden floored single room with the bar in the middle on the left. I noticed a juke box and a TV screen that was turned off. There is a dart board at the far end. It was quiet on my Wednesday afternoon visit. The bar has five hand pumps which had one unused, Joules Pale, Blonde & Slumbering Monk and a guest that was Off Beat Waimea NZ Pale. I went for the NZ Pale which was excellent. Another good boozer from Joules.