The Royal Oak Inn re-opened on 23rd December under new management.
For the new Royal Oak Inn website go to royaloakinn.co.uk.
If any of the around 400 Royal Oak pubs in the country are interested in the domain royaloakinn.org.uk please contact me, .
Now we have left … 😩
Final day of business for me was Tuesday 31st October 2023.
We are somewhat shocked and outraged at the council’s decision, which is completely out of out control. There were definite red flags that the new tenant was not going to or be in a position to take over so that is why we made the offer to stay on whilst things got sorted out.
Obviously this has a number of ramifications. Not least for the wonderful and loyal staff who have an uncertain future. Under the current employment law, they will all be entitled to have their jobs back once the pub is open again. However it is unclear when that will be.
The staff are like family and we are so sorry that the council have made the decision to close the pub with such short notice. The whole thing is a mess.
As I understand, the chairman of the Inn committee resigned his position due to the council taking this decision. Ironically this all started because the council wanted the pub open for longer hours and now they are happy for the pub to close.
Personally I would like to see each of the counsellors resign their position for taking this decision, especially those living in the village. How they could ever show their face in the pub again would be beyond me, they should be ashamed of themselves. Although I am sure none of the current staff would serve them anyway.
We need to get though the weekend and then review the situation next week.
Once again, we would like to thank all of our customers for their continued support.
Sincerely Stephen
The Royal Oak is very unique in that it is owned by the parish council, but is rented out on a commercial basis. But it is not a community run pub.
We have a fantastic number of locals who support the pub all year round some every day some weekly. We also have a tremendous number of visitors who travel far and wide to use the pub.
However the Parish Council imposing minimum opening hours up to 10 o’clock every night would be business suicide due to the costs of keeping the pub open for the apparently the local who wants to come in late on a Monday or Tuesday night!!!
After seventeen years at the pub I can tell you it is and has never been a late night venue, in fact after running pubs in London and West Sussex that was one of the things that attracted me to the Royal Oak.
This is why I have decided not to apply for the new lease, hopefully we will be made aware who the new tenant is soon! The clock is ticking!
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of my past and current customers and the wonderful staff that have come and gone, who have helped me build up the fantastic reputation that the Royal Oak at Meavy now holds. I would also like to thank the many local businesses who have supplied the Royal Oak over the years. I am happy to bow out gracefully and I wish the new tenant all the best for the future.
Please take a moment to read A Note from Stephen.