Royal Oak, Widcombeback to pub details please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Decided to give this pub a try instead of walking into the city centre while staying at the nearby Travelodge, and very glad I did. Bath is full of excellent pubs but I'd always given The Royal Oak a miss as the colour scheme outside looks like it might be a GK pub. Fortunately this is not the case - it is a superb, non-touristy, community local. The food is unpretentious pub grub and the Bath Ales Gem was in tip-top condition. So good in fact that I stayed on it all night and gave the other 4 or 5 beer a miss.
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With it�s plethora of sporting memorabilia and a packed crowd enjoying the football on a multitude of plasma screens, it would be easy to dismiss this as just another sports bar. But it�s actually much more than that � it strikes me as a proper, traditional pub that just happens to have a strong sports emphasis.
It�s a long, single room bar, although with areas to both the left and right that are up a couple of steps and separated by low partitions, so they have the feeling of being somewhat separate. The flooring is painted boards and the walls a shade of mustard yellow, with a burgundy red colour on the woodwork. At the rear is a covered patio area, and also a function room that had a projector screen showing the football on a recent Sunday afternoon visit. As previously mentioned, there is plenty of sporting memorabilia around with a shelf full of rugby balls, cricketing photographs and football shirts adorning the walls and various national flags around the bar.
Food is apparently offered, although the only evidence we saw on our visit was a jar of pickled eggs behind the bar. Besides the numerous screens dotted around, the commentary was also piped to additional speakers around the pub just to ensure you didn�t miss out. A little over the top for my taste, but then I�m not a sports fan. Tables were a mix match of different styles, round, square, high and low.
Beers on offer were Gem, Doom Bar and Butcombe Gold. Ciders were Thatcher�s Gold, Stowford Press and Blackthorn.
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Excellent pub for rugby � good selection of ales and cider, and the landlord Simon is very friendly and welcoming. Will definitely be back on my next visit to Bath!
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We ate here, and the chef seems to feel the need to cover everything in black pepper to the point where it is inedible. Half our meal was also forgotten and came late as it had to be cooked after everything else.
More over, when we complained, we were not taken seriously and were just fobbed off. I would not return to the pub.
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Nice pub with lots of live sports. For big rugby matches they have additional screens in their skittle alley building at the back. Food is typical honest pub grub - great value and well worth a visit if you're that side of town. Beer is well kept and very drinkable, and the beer garden is pleasant on warm summers evenings if you can ignore the regular trains passing by!!
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I have just spent the weekend in Bath to watch Quins play Bath RFC and couldnt have been made more welcome by the staff at the Royal Oak, Widcombe. What a top pub: skittles on a Friday night and rugby on the Saturday. Packed out with good beer, cider (Stowford Press, the best draught cider on the market), tuck and friendly regulars. If you're into rugby and a good time, you should visit this place as it is excellent. In fact , Bath was a top place to be this spring weekend.
Thanks Simon (and wife), and I hope you enjoyed your late night curry on Saturday!! And it doesnt take ages to get served: the staff are very efficient and I'm not a regular, but plan to be once or twice a year.
I hope Bath get to the play offs and I hope they dismantle Leicester next weekend!!
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Ideal for a quiet pint of Butcombe on a saturday or sunday afternoon, but avoid when a big rugby game is on TV. It gets very busy and takes ages to get served - especially when the bar staff serve their friends first!
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Best pub for rugby in Bath. Great Sunday lunches and evening meals. Do a breakfast on rugby match days. Live music on Sundays. Skittle alley and a boules league in the summer. Nice quiet garden out the back. And really lovely polite staff and landlord.
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Changed beyond recognition since Simon (ex Ram) took over, fantastic atmosphere during the world cup. Nice range of well kept beers and great value food. Well worth a visit.
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Now run by the chap who used to have the Ram at Widcombe, this formerly grotty dive has been turned around, cleaned up and generally improved beyond measure. Haven't tried the food yet - it looks excellent - but the beer is well kept. Let's hope the landlord can persuade the pubco to let him stock guest beers. If they do, it might come down to the awful decision - which Royal Oak do we go to tonight -Widcombe or Twerton? At the moment the ten handpumps at Twerton are still proving irresistible.
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Pleasant pub, but very quiet on a Friday evening. Good for a quiet drink and a meal but not good trade for the landlord. Not a huge menu but good quality. The beer was Courage Best, Bath Gem and Butcombe Gold.
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