retiredmartin

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.