44 Tabard Street,
London,
SE1 4JU
0872 148 1218
The ViewLondon Review
The Royal Oak sits on Tabard Street and is barely a minute away from Borough High Street and Borough Tube.
Unfortunately the land opposite the fairly unremarkable Victorian pub exterior is currently an enormous building site, and as such the area is not likely to fall into the category of charming in the near future.
However, the Royal Oak must be doing something right, as it was voted one of the top 5 pubs in London by the Evening Standard in 2002, and has attracted a huge amount of praise for its beer and atmosphere.
I visited on a Wednesday afternoon – maybe not the best time to judge it at its best, but interesting nonetheless. The interior was fairly standard, and the clientele were a mixture of suit groups and a few old timers reading the papers.
The first conversation I heard was between a rather unremarkable customer and the landlord, and the discussion was a serious one about beer. The landlord served me my pint and the talk tailed off. However, within minutes of customer one sitting down, another guy launched into a new beer discussion with him.
Now, I’ve been to a few pubs in my time, and quite a few of those have been recognised for their real ale fan following. However, I’ve never encountered this level of talkative beer enthusiasm anywhere else. I may have walked into a CAMRA singles session, but I think it was more likely down to the Royal Oak’s reputation.
The beer hails from Sussex family brewers Harveys of Lewes, widely regarded as one of the best small breweries around. It was as fresh and well-kept as can be, and is clearly a big draw. So, if you’re partial to a decent pint then head down to the Royal Oak, and try and ignore the building site…