The Royal Oak — Restaurant in England

I noticed that an automated tip was added to the bill during our last visit, which I understand is not mandatory and can be removed upon request. While I appreciate that tipping is important for service staff, I feel that this practice puts customers in an awkward position. Many people may feel uncomfortable requesting its removal, especially in a face-to-face situation with the waitstaff. This approach feels unfair, as it seems to take advantage of customers who may not feel empowered to speak up.

Additionally, during my visit, the service was noticeably slow, which I believe was due to an apparent shortage of staff (for the entire wing where we were sitting, there were only two waiters). While I understand that managing a restaurant can be challenging, it was clear that there were not enough waiters to handle the number of customers. This led to a frustrating experience, as the wait times for both getting seated, ordering and receiving our food were much longer than expected.

The combination of these two issues—automated tipping and understaffing—left me with the impression that the restaurant may be prioritising cost-saving and revenue generating measures over customer satisfaction. The lack of sufficient staff suggests that the business is cutting corners on service, while still benefiting from automatic gratuities, which seems unfair to both customers and the staff who have to work under these conditions.

Given this experience, I am unlikely to return to the restaurant in the future, and I wanted to bring this to your attention in the hope that you will consider revisiting your policies and staffing practices to ensure a better experience for...

I am proud to call this place my local. The staff and land lord are all very welocming. It appears that to work here just being able to pour a pint is not good enough, you also have to be a friendly and warm person who is up for a chat and a laugh with the customers.

The pub boasts both BT sport and Sky sports and had multiple TVs strategically placed around the pub. This means that you dont have to miss any of the sport and they can also have differnt channels on differnt TVs, so if what you want is not being played then don't be afraid to ask the staff to change the channel.

The pub also has a variety of differnt events on through out the week. Last time I checked they have a quiz on a monday, poker on tuesday and thursday and free pool on a wednesday. I would reccomend just phoning if you are interested in these events to ensure that I have got the days correct.

On a Saturday night the pub is at its busiest, this is due to the high class bands they book to play on a regular basis, so if rocking out on saturday night is your thing I reccomend this place fully. Even though the pub can be very busy on a Saturday the land lord does have extra staff on, so the waiting times for service do not rise astronomically, the fact it has a very long bar helps with this.

One watch out - even though the bar closes at 12 during the week and 1 at the weekend, last entry is...

I have popped into the royal oak twice since the reopening and I cannot praise the staff enough on making myself and party members feel safe and welcome on both occasions. On sunday when I arrived I was greeted by jo who explained everything thoroughly and made us feel extremely at ease throughout. The landlord mike greeted us the second time was brilliant aswell, along with a blonde bar lady who was extremely attentive.

Both times visiting have been completely relaxed and we were made to feel comfortable in such different circumstances.

Would definately recommend to friends and family about this pub as by the looks of things they are doing a great job.

Both times upon visiting...