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The Duck, Newark
Newark
NG24 1AZ
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 5½ of 10) see review guidelines
Steve C left this review about The Duck
The Duck has central serving counters that serve front and rear bars. The front bar has an inglenook in the left-hand wall that faces towards seating in the right, where there is also a large mirror that led me to believe the pub was much bigger than it actually is, my visit being a lot nearer to the end of the crawl than the start! The rear bar has televisions for live sport, these were muted whilst some dance music played during a recent quiet Thursday evening visit. Premium and craft keg was available and the two hand pumps were drawing Purity’s Goose and Duck Pale Ale. There are a few decent pubs along this stretch so this place won’t be on my radar during my next visit.
On 24th July 2023
- rating: 5
[User has posted 5251 recommendations about 5219 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about Royal Oak
Listed as a CAMRA heritage pub but I’m not really sure why. It is indeed an aged building with two rooms at the front and back bisected by the bar. However the front room had a jumbo drop down screen showing the football and seemed to be lit in green presumably for Irish reasons. The rear is a bit nicer with multi coloured pub carpet, red fabric banquettes and faintly naff brick print wall paper; but none of it seemed particularly worthy of heritage status to me. Points of interest were the dominoes table and a large amount of Guinness breweriana on the ceiling. A darts team was practicing in the back room (if you get a tenner riddled with holes it's cause the Irish darts team were using the queen's head as a target for practice). No cask at the bar but upon enquiry the slightly startled Irish landlord suggested keg Speckled Hen - so I of course had a Guinness. An odd one, really. I get the feeling this could be a cracking traditional pub but it seems to be doing fine trundling along as it is.
On 18th December 2017
- rating: 5
[User has posted 5099 recommendations about 5082 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Alan Winfield left this review about Royal Oak
The Royal Oak is a decent looking pub that is next to The Ram Hotel.
When i first went in this pub it was a John Smiths tied house with two rooms and only keg John Smiths Biter on the bar.
On our recent visit the pub still has two separate rooms which are to the right of the passage,we had a drink in the front room which is square shaped and carpeted,the seating is modern looking tables and chairs,there is a large mirror on the right wall which makes the room look twice the size it really is,it all looked far too modern for our liking,the TV was showing the Olympics,the room to the rear is a similar shape and is carpeted,there is comfy bench seating and small stools for seating,there is a table skittle table to the rear left,the TV in this room was showing horse racing.
There are now no hand pumps on the bar,so it was a drink of John Smiths smooth crap which lived up to its name.
Who we presumed to be the landlord seemed very threatening and could kick off at any time,this made our visit very dissapointing.
Pub first visited 20/3/1983
Old photo taken 21/4/1987
Recent visit 6/8/2016
On 16th October 2016
- rating: 5
[User has posted 6113 recommendations about 6113 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Will Larter left this review about The Royal Oak
A recent refurbishment has resulted in this pub looking a lot smarter than I remembered from a previous visit several years ago. It's a very old building with now a much more modern feel to the interior. The bar is accessed from the right of the passage that leads straight through the building to the garden behind - presumably this would have been access to the stables when it was a coaching inn. There's a front room which has one hand pump on the bar and another room behind, which has two more hand pumps available. The beers on at the time of our visit were Batemans XB and two from Cross Bay - Dusk and Nightfall. Strangely, we had just had Dusk at the nearby Prince Rupert but the beer labelled as Dusk here was very different from the beer we had there. We had a chat about this and other beer related matters with the landlord, who was very friendly and welcoming. Well worth a visit.
On 27th January 2014
- rating: 6
[User has posted 3746 recommendations about 3483 pubs]