Royal Oak

My sister and I stumbled across this little gem a few years ago during the world cup and thought to check it out. It is a dainty modern pub, dim lights and a set of couches in two corners, one set of couch facing the ping pong table. I found it to have a great atmosphere at the time and ever since then, it has turned into my go to pub in Clapham.
I have never tried their food but they do look good although there aren’t many options to go by if you are not in the mood for dough based food. Nevertheless, their double alcoholic drinks taste like doubles and not watered down non sense one can get elsewhere.
The staff are friendly and I always have a good laugh with them especially the Eastern European Blonde Chick (sorry, I can’t remember her name now and I feel bad because I knew it at the bar!).
They have a ping pong table which you can go ahead to use if it’s free with a £5 deposit for each bat so if there are two players, not that you should be playing alone against a wall, they would require a £10 deposit which you will get back at the end of the 30 – 45 minutes game. Alternatively, you can leave you card with them and rest assured you will get it back.
If you are looking for a modern day pub with good music and a calm (when not busy) or pumping (during busy times) atmosphere, I would recommend the Royal Oak.
Happy Pub-​ing people!

Best late night drinking den in the area.
These guys have a late licence and are usually open a couple of hours longer than everyone else in the area — which makes it popular with the staff of surrounding pubs! And as there are a few of these… the pub really starts jumping around midnight.
Always get a great cross section of friendly people.
Very dangerous at 2am on a Monday night… :)
(or so I’ve heard!!)

Smallish pub close to Clapham North. Unlike most of the other pubs around it, actually open after midnight on weekdays.
Oh, and they have a ping pong table.

One of my favourite pubs ever. The Royal Oak is funky, and fun with a devil-​may-​care attitude that always ensures a good night out. Their Table Tennis Tournament is so much fun– people get really invested in it and it began with a man riding a motorcycle into the pub. That pretty much sums up the Royal Oak.

The Royal Oak has become the kind of pub you very rarely see anymore. Starting from worst to best the diner style food is fun and relatively cheap, don’t expect gourmet cuisine. The staff are an absolute pleasure, always smiley and happy to help. Manager Max is the star of the show his ability to greet regulars by name and make you feel at home is second to none. On top of that he is excellent at organising crazy events (wrestling on New Years Eve, a full mock Royal wedding including tranny Kate Middleton) which people seem to love. The décor is also quirky and interesting, the music eclectic.
Considering how spectacularly boring the rest of the identikit pubs are in Clapham the Oak’s really doing something different.
Congrats to Max and his crew on a great job.

I lived in Clapham for a-​g-​e-​s, so the fact that I only went through the doors of the Royal Oak three years after I moved away is a bit on the embarrassing side. Then again, the north end of Clapham High Street used to be decrepit and awful, whereas now it has natty-​looking vintage shops and smart saucepan outlets.
I had an hour to kill before meeting my friend and a book that I urgently needed to carry on reading. I didn’t really care where I sat to do so, but the twinkly fairy-​lit windows of The Royal Oak looked a lot more welcoming than I remembered so I hopped in.
Wow. Wow, wow and thrice wow. And other adjectives once I drew my breath and remembered what words are.
The Royal Oak is just magical. People so obviously care about this place and it shows throughout. There was a proper fire crackling away merrily, candles everywhere, and just enough light for my eyes to cope without killing the atmosphere. I settled into a cosy leather armchair by the window, and put my new guitar case on one of the chairs (I know, I know, but it wasn’t full.) I drank wine. A standard glass of Pinot Greezh was £4.70 which was a bit teeth-​sucking.
Remnants of a New Year’s Big Lebowski-​themed party were still writ large, with the Dude’s Commandments literally written large on one of the walls. There was a Cliff Richard calendar behind the bar which someone had politely defaced. The loo doors folded back on themselves like origami and someone had left a really sweet note about taps in the ladies which made me chuckle.
The bar menus and wine lists were notched up in chalk on walls by the bar, and there was a lovely desk with a mirror on it by the front door. The staff were relaxed but clearly keen to be there, a few regulars came in whilst I was there (good sign) and the bargirl gave me a lovely compliment on my hummingbird brooch, which I approved of immensely as I also think that brooch is probably the loveliest thing in the world.
The whole place had a wonderfully relaxed, safe, friendly air about it. You can’t make that happen. You have to really want to make somewhere feel that good. I’ll definitely be going back next time I’m in Clapham.

Are you looking for a laid-​back, uncrowded pub in which to spend your lazy Sunday afternoon scarfing some scrummy roast and sipping the alcoholic drink of your choice whilst watching whatever sport of the day is on a magnificently large projector screen?
Well, you can’t go wrong with the Royal Oak in Clapham, then.
The place was empty barring a few other patrons when I entered, although a few more showed up and dotted the other tables around the room while I was there. The cricket was playing; the service was friendly and generally pretty prompt; the food hit all the notes I was expecting it to hit.
I’ll be back in the future for more lazy Sunday afternoon dining, drinking and sport.
Don’t go expecting to be wowed by the atmosphere or the drinks or the food or the clientèle (I mean, there was nothing wrong with any of these things; it’s just that all of them were rather innocuous). No. Get your weekend hat on and enjoy the Royal Oak’s laid-​back, unpretentious, understatedness to its fullest.
Oh, and get a portion of the hand-​cut chips. They were fabulous and, yes, definitely cut by hand and chucked into the fryer and salted to perfection. Delicious.

On a blustery night in Clapham North, there’s no better place to seek refuge than Royal Oak.
… Alright, so that’s a complete line. I actually know nothing about the area, so anywhere that served local beer and tasty food a healthy step above pub grub in a warm and cozy environment would get my vote tonight.
Royal Oak just happened to do it in an exceptionally friendly and affordable manner. Plus they took cards, which as I mentioned, earned them top marks! In full agreement with the two other reviews, while the rest of Clapham seemed on a mission score themselves a ruckus and rambunctious party palace, Royal Oak was refreshingly down to Earth and mellow, even as the crowds grew larger.
I’ll definitely put this on my lazy Sunday lunch list.

Haven’t tried the food, but came in here for a meeting on Friday and was pleasantly surprised. I like pubs with a central bar, and they’re keeping 3 ales behind this one reasonably well. Staff are really friendly. My gripes would be that it’s a bit too cold, even next to a radiator, and it would be great if there was some free wifi, as there are some decent high tables for working. I shall return for an update.

What a nice and cosy pub – with a warm fire, good drinks and hearty homemade food you can’t go wrong.
There are loads of tables, but hardly any space to stand around. But I’m not sure the pub is meant for big raucous crowds. Instead I think it’s great for small intimate groups, working well for a mellow weeknight out or a lazy Sunday lunch.
The crowd is made from folks in their 30s who aren’t hunting for their next date – so you won’t have to suffer the normal Clapham meat market mania.

The Royal Oak is now under new management and you can start to see the improvements trickling through. I haven’t tried the food yet, but the bar staff were friendly and they have a few new ales on which is nice. The crowd in here seemed younger, hipper and better looking on Friday night. Perhaps it was a one off, but i’m going to go out on a limb here and say the Royal Oak in Clapham will become a trendy spot again in 2010.

I had been here once before a while back but i Went in last Sunday and could see clearly that it is under new management! they now provide Full table service and everyone working was great. i asked about which wine would go best with my food and the bar staff were able to give me a few different choices and my friend was really happy with the large range of great beer. the pies are amazing and helped me get over my hangover as well!

Decent pub. Brilliant location (even though I walked right by it at first!). A lot better than some of the other drinking establishments I’ve had the misfortune of visiting on Clapham High Street.
No complaints. Although there were a few off-​kilter punters who gave off the impression that they frequent this pub often.
Oh yeah, The Royal Oak has Staropramen on tap. That’s a good thing.
Keep it in mind for a good spot for meeting up near Clapham North Station.

One of the best roasts ever!

For a pub located a hair’s breadth from the tube station, this one was surprisingly tame for a weeknight. Still crowded, still a bit loud, but also nice and cozy and inviting. It was pleasantly lacking in the atmosphere of desperation I usually associate with pubs where people need to down a few drinks quickly before they can endure their commute home.
I haven’t been for food yet, so I can’t really comment about quality there or service, but just to meet with some friends for a drink after work was quite pleasant. Though based on some of the comments others have left about their dining experiences, I’m not sure I’ll give it a try any time soon.

After only one visit to this pub i’d have to put myself firmly on the fence, nothing about it really jumped out and made me want to relocate to clapham just so I could call it my new local (which is the yardstick for any great pub) but I wouldn’t be averse to going there again. Seemed reasonably busy for midweek but not overcrowded. Positives= It serves Staropramen and is just a short crawl from the tube. Negative= Once you go through the first door to the toilets your left in a pitch black corridor trying to feel your way round (though I imagine this was a freak occurrence due to a dead light bulb.

Aussies never stop do they? On a typical Sunday afternoon half of the pubs in Clapham are rammed with antipodeans downing their drinks and drowning the start to the new week. It can be entertaining to watch, but when you’re hungover youself and just want some peace, some lunch and some premiership and the papers then you need somewhere else.
Step up Royal Oak. Free of revellers, flush with dependable grub and well poured standard beers and never stingy with the weekend papers. It’s not outstanding, but that’s its beauty… It’s an oasis of Sunday afternoon calm when all around is on a mission to lose its head.

UPDATE
This place has definitely gone downhill! They didn’t have half the options on the menu, and the meal I settled for arrived cold and limp. Portions are pretty paltry too.
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Aaargh the reviews here are scary — the service some other Qypers have experienced is unbelievable! Although I’m happy to say my experience doesn’t mirror theirs. I went with a bunch of friends for their much hyped Sunday roast, and it didn’t disappoint. The staff were friendly, and willing to accomodate additions and subtractions to the menu. The only problem we encountered was with the card machine (it wasn’t working), but all in all our visit to the Royal Oak was pleasant.

I’m so mixed about this place. On the one hand, it has great food, I’ve got a mate that works there, it’s small and cute and intimate.
But on the other hand, I was there with a mate for her birthday once, and the staff (one member in particular) were so UNBELIEVABLY rude to her, she left the place in tears. All this was because they insisted that for this group of 30 all food was ordered on one tab which had to be secured with her card — they weren’t willing to just let individuals buy their own food at the bar. Inevitably this resulted in confusion at the end of the night, and the resulting argument (in which the staff member told my friend to f**k off) was quite unpleasant.
This bad experience left a horrible memory for us. Which is a shame because the roast dinners are fabulous, and the breakfasts are well cute (everything comes in its own separate rammikin). So give it a try, but I think it might depend who is working that day as to whether you get good service or not.

Clapham, oh Clapham, what are we going to do without this beautiful place??? What happened to the jewel in the crown of our neighbourhood? I’m horrifed by my experience here tonight. I don’t even want to give it 1 star and this time last year I would have given it 5.
I was about to order the anti-​pasti dish with hummous, when the guy behind the bar said they had run out, and then said hang on my mate’s just coming in with some. when I looked around I saw a guy walking in with one tiny tub of cheap hummous from the corner shop down the road (I recognised the tub from seeing it and never buying it before).
So we ordered 2 burgers (without mayo) and fish cakes with stir fried veg and chilly sauce. After a long wait, the food arrived. The burgers arrived with lashings of mayo and the fish cake — a massive 4 inches tall monstrosoty that looked like it had been moulded at the local pottery class and coated in a tough 5 year old breadcrumb mix — on a miniscule bed of something resembling spinach with a grey thin as water sauce. Hmmm, that doesn’t look like stir fried veg? And yuck yuck to all that fatty mayo on the burgers.
So we had to complain. They took the burgers away and the fishcakes (actually cake — just one massive odd horrible thing), but then brought the fishcake back mumbling something about it being a different chef and not knowing the menu, so threw it back in front of me. Instead of re-​doing it, the guy said they were going to bring the stir-​fried veg on the side. I was starving so ate the food and the veg arrived 20 mins later.
Appalling experience, they really need to sort this place out ASAP. Definitely some of the worst pub food I’ve eaten. This pub needs saving — Qypers we can do it!!! Let’s bring back the Royal Oak we know and love.