Always something happening at the Oak .....

Pip has been hard at work in the Oak - and you must come and see our new seating areas. The pub is now really taking on a cosy country opub feel.

As well as his carpentry and building skills though, Pip is also a wizard with the computer and his new invention to help our wine drinkers has gone down a storm.



The sun is most definitely shining today - so our outdoor drinking areas are proving popular - don't forget you can eat as well as drink in both of our oatio areas.

Entertianment-wise, we've a couple of special events on the horizon. On the Bank Holiday Weekend we welcome the Morris Men from east Surrey once again. They'll be waving their hankies around, hitting each other with sticks and combing their beards for as long as you can manage.

On June 19th its our populat Midsummer Run - for those who are looking for a social run of around 5 miles, followed by a barbecue or spit roast and live music. then, two days later, we welcome back The dawgs for a gig.

Why not come along and join us?

The sun is out - so summer's here!

That nasty winter is out of the way - so we're getting into Summer mode here at the Oak.

The fire is not being lit - it helps psychologically to remove all traces of winter - and we've got some lovely spring-like additions to our menu. Our Lamb is really good at the moment - and our scallops continue to be popular. Indeed, if fish is your bag we've usually got some fresh salmon in stock too.

Remember that everything is freshly prepared at the Oak - no bought-in boil in the bag stuff here! We're also a little light on the chicken and chips, scampi and chips-type menus too. But if you like well prepared, good home cooking, you'll find our menu right up your street.

So, do please pay us a visit.

Entertainment-wise we've still got our monthly Bluegrass sessions plus we've also a couple of special live music nights. Our monthly winter quiz season wraps up on Tuesday night as well - its been great fun and we'll aim to do it again once next winter comes around.

So keep an eye on our What's On board for news on forthcoming events - and we'll see you soon hopefully.

Those damn roadworks!!

After being plagued by the roadworks outside for almost two weeks, only for them to be removed rapidly once they were featured on TV, we've enjoyed a few days of uninterupted traffic.

Until now.

Yep - they're back and, we hear, the road is likley to be closed for another two or three days next week. Please remember that even though the road may be closed, you can still reach the Royal Oak and we will be open as normal throughout the period of road closures.

So do please continue to visit us - otherwise we'll be lonely!

Maybe we should ask our friends from Heineken to do our roadworks?

Pub ban for Chancellor?

A campaign to ban the Chancellor of the Exchequer from the nation's pubs appears to gathering pace.

Following an Edinburgh landlord's decision to ban the Chancellor of the Exchequer from his premises after a budget that was punitive for drinkers, A Tory MSP, Alex Johnstone, is urging pubs across the country to follow suit and demonstrate their condemnation of the tax hikes on alcohol.

Mr Johnstone said "The Chancellor has raised the duty on alcohol under the pretext that it is in a bid to combat binge drinking. But by even the simplest calculations, his tax hike will do nothing more than raise money for the treasury. For example, if an individual went out and drank ten pints of cider in an evening, then Mr Darling's efforts in beating the booze culture will in fact have cost the drinker just thirty pence more. That’s hardly going to make someone think twice is it?"

"No-one underestimates the need for action in tackling the country's booze culture, it is something that needs urgent attention and a holistic attitute. This budget does nothing to address this and I'm not alone in being disappointed that the government has come up with such a simplistic response."

Mr Johnstone concluded "Barring Mr Darling from licensed premises will send a clear message, that ordinary, responsible drinkers should not be seen as a soft touch for raising money to pay for previous fiscal incompetence."

We couldn't possibly comment!!

A great day to be sure!

We had a fabulous Sunday.

A number of our prize athletic specimens amongst the regulars joined Carmen in running Sunday's Hastings Half Marathon. After the race we entertained a healthy crowd of runners and supporters to lunch followed by a St Patrick's Day session with live music.

It was great to see the pub packed – a miserable day outside brightened considerably by a roaring fire, some great music and plenty of Guinness and Irish Stew consumed!

We hope to make the event an annual one – so if running is your game keep in touch. A reminder too that we also have our own Midsummer Run from the pub around Iden – a distance of about 5 miles. The run takes place on Thursday June 19th and your entry fee includes food and live music. More information on that soon.

A question of brain power

The monthly series of Royal Oak quizzes are proving more and more popular. Our March event was well attended – despite those damned road works.

Our quiet, reserved quiz master once again handed out well-earned chocolate prizes to all participants – and, to the winning team, the notorious team prize – a vegetable! It is the tradition that each month's winning team brings a prize vegetable to present to the next winning team. To date we've had some great leeks, rhubarb, celeriac, sweet potatoes and very rude parsnip!

Join us at the next event on April 15th.

British Pie Week declared

Now this is right up one or two of our customer's street!

March 1st to 7th has now officially designated as British Pie Week.

What a great idea we thought – till we saw it was sponsored by Jus-Rol! Anyway, the experts that design these marketing initiatives have also discovered that steak pie is consistently the best-selling pub dish.

The chap from the artificial pastry company said “The pie is justifiably one of the great British favourites. Being the UK’s most popular pastry dish, we felt it truly deserved its own national week and are delighted to be associated with its launch."
That's all well and good Mr Pastry but we can assure regulars here at the Oak that all our dishes our entirely home made – which means pastry properly (and lovingly) prepared by Marc or Carmen. And if you'd like to try our favourite pie-ish dish why not come here and try our notorious Steak and Mushroom Pudding?

But we're taken by the idea of a Pie Week – so we'll have a look at what our customers say in our new Poll. That's right, vote for your favourite Pie in the Royal Oak PieQuest – and perhaps we'll celebrate the winner in true Royal Oak style!