The Royal Oak, Havant

An attractive looking pub in an idyllic location overlooking Emsworth Harbour, there is limited seating at the front where it has the best views, but there is nonetheless a good sized beer garden at the rear and this has clearly had some considerable investment and been attractively landscaped. Internally it’s divided in to a number of different rooms. The main bar at the front has some attractive, sandy coloured tiles on the floor and a dual aspect brick chimney breast and fire-place. Paintwork was a mixture of cream and some rather contemporary purple. Some oak beam partitioning was an attractive feature, and one of them included stained glass with the Greene King logo. To the left was a somewhat cosier room with wooden boards on the floor, brick fire-place and wood burning stove whilst a smaller room to the right had some parquet wood flooring. At the rear a longer and lighter room looked to be more geared up for dining and this had some colourful artwork affixed to the light wood panelling on the sloping roof. Service at the bar was unfortunately abysmal with one barmaid serving on a beautifully sunny Sunday morning and she seemed to have no sense of urgency or purpose, taking an inordinately long time to spoon dollops of whipped cream in to a mug of hot chocolate for the punter in front of me. It wouldn’t have been quite so bad if there been some acknowledgement whilst I was waiting or apology for the delay, but there was nothing. Beers on tap were all from Greene King with their Abbott Ale, Old Speckled Hen and Purple Reign, whilst a fourth pump for Amber Ale appeared to have run out. The solitary cider meanwhile was Aspall’s Suffolk. Overall this is a pleasant pub in a great location, but the uninspiring beer choice and poor service really let it down.

The Royal Oak official site - www.royaloak-havant.co.uk

The Royal Oak official site - www.royaloak-havant.co.uk

Stunning location, but the food and service were a huge disappointment. I could not get a smile out of the lady who served me, she looked really miserable, I asked to change my club sandwich to a baguette, which they would not do, despite it saying on the menu you have a choice of bread or baguette, I asked for another sandwich without mayo and it came with it although they did change it without any problems, the portions were measly (not much fillings in the sandwiches). I would not go back there, next time I'm in the area I will try the ship which has the same stunning location and also has a patio area overlooking the harbour where the Royal Oak did not (you could get a table inside overlooking it, but as its right on the seafront there are only benches at the front of the pub). 10/10 for location 4/10 food and service.

Very picturesque area, looking over Chichester harbour. But parking could be a problem during summer