AN ASSET OF COMMUNITY VALUE. THE ROYAL OAK, RADCLIFFE ON TRENT

January 2026. Radcliffe on Trent.

It was Will’s idea, the daft  best ones generally are.

Someone on CAMRA Discourse admitted the much maligned Craft Union chain had a decent outlet near them, and Will forced the honourable member to name that pub as the Royal Oak in unsung Radcliffe on Trent.

But what else could a village of 8,144, first stop on the line out to Skegness, offer the intrepid Pub Man ?

And so it was that I invested in a £9.90 return from Sheffield to suburban Nottingham, joined by universally cheerful topers from Stafford, Marple and That Leicester.

I’d actually completed the famous Radcliffe tourist trail 7 years previously, taking in a violent Notts League match before my micro opened at 5.

But what about the street art ?

Not great. We dithered a bit and then decided to do the main target first, the Royal Oak bang in the centre.

It’s 12.06, and it’s packed. Not with Old Boys on cheap Carling, but gentlewomen playing bingo.

A fiver buys you your card, a bacon butty and unlimited coffee, and keeps the pub ticking off till the tickers arrive. A great example of a Community Asset.

By 12.08 the calls are complete, and our topers can decide who’s going to be the Party Animal,

and who’s going for Bass.

It’s an impressive lineup for a Craft Union,

the sort that gets you in the GBG with a barman of the enthusiasm we saw here.

Just a slight shame the Bass was slightly below it’s crisp best (NBSS 3).

But the seating, the company were top draw, and Paul’s storytelling had us in tears.

One of the joys of a trip to pastures new is that you never know what you’re going to get, and so it proved.

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Published by retiredmartin

Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.

14 thoughts on “AN ASSET OF COMMUNITY VALUE. THE ROYAL OAK, RADCLIFFE ON TRENT”

      1. Perhaps he was distressed that you only gave that Bass NBSS 3. Once Paul got to the end of his story he’ll have cheered up.

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  3. Many more pubs should be registered as ACVs. Then, without lots more, a pubco can’t just run it into the ground with a view to building a block of flats in its car park

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  5. “And so it was that I invested in a £9.90 return from Sheffield to suburban Nottingham, joined by universally cheerful topers from Stafford, Marple and That Leicester.”

    Pub crawl?

    “We dithered a bit”

    Dither? I thought the 2026 approved verbiage was either waffle or waver.

    “A fiver buys you your card, a bacon butty and unlimited coffee, and keeps the pub ticking off till the tickers arrive. A great example of a Community Asset.”

    Smart move! Well done them.

    Also (looks down)
    I’m assuming that call sheet is some sort of weird bingo lines for different games?

    “and our topers can decide who’s going to be the Party Animal,”

    (looks down)
    As in, who gets the first round?

    “and who’s going for Bass.”

    Ah. I retract my previous statement.

    “It’s an impressive lineup for a Craft Union,”‘

    (looks down)
    (slow golf clap) – for how they described the Bass 😊

    “Just a slight shame the Bass was slightly below it’s crisp best (NBSS 3).”

    You can’t appreciate a NBSS 4 properly, unless you’ve had a NBSS 3, or some such.

    “But the seating, the company were top draw”

    See! It’s all a balance.

    “and Paul’s storytelling had us in tears.”

    Not sure if that’s a good thing, or a bad thing. 😉

    “One of the joys of a trip to pastures new is that you never know what you’re going to get, and so it proved.”

    That (almost) rhymes!

    Cheers

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  6. Shamed to say I had never heard of Radcliffe. As it has a rail station, it’s gone on my pending list. That bingo vocab was great, thanks! Reminds me of playing with a friend and our mothers using bottle tops on bigger boards circa 1979. There were actual prizes you could choose then, not cash.

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