October 2024 by Giovanni Doni
On my way to the too of the trundle, or on my way down, I cannot possibly miss stopping here for a pint in this nice pub!
October 2024 by Louise Glen
We were staying close by & the pub was in walking distance so decided to pop in for lunch. So glad that we did as the food was delicious, all home made. The only downside was the choice of puddings, but that was due to my our particular tastes. The staff were really welcoming & friendly. We sat outside after our food & watched the light aircraft flying over. Highly recommend stopping here if you're passing.
October 2024 by Suzy
Stayed 4 nights in Mulberry cottage, great location, so quiet and cosy. Excellent quality bedding and toiletries. Plenty of tea, filter coffee and milk. The cottage was serviced regularly. Heating and very hot Water all worked well. The pub served us excellent breakfast and evening meals with live music on the Sunday night to accompany supper. Staff in the pub and cleaning the cottage were excellent and nothing was too much trouble. Would highly recommend staying again. Fab dog walks locally and very close to Chichester and the in the South Downs national park.
Nearby activities: Walks locally no need to drive. Direct route up to the Trundle viewing point from the village
Excellent walks around the village
Church worth a visit and reflect
Food and drinks: Local ales available and food offer was well above the average, nice choices and specials
October 2024 by christabel fowler
I stayed in the Royal Oak for one night as I was travelling for business, I have not stayed in the area before so it was a random choice for me, but I was incredibly impressed! I have stayed in 5 star hotels that were not as nice. The attention to detail was incredible in the very spacious lovely room; a cafeteria, kettle, tea and hot chocolate, water and milk in the fridge in the room,. There was even a hot water bottle in the cupboard. Of course an iron and hairdryer and shampoo, conditioner, shower gel and hand cream. There was nothing at all I could have asked for that was not in the room. In addition, the staff were amazing and I only wish I would have arrived in time to have dinner in the pub as the menu looked amazing! This was well beyond my expectations.
September 2024 by Mark O'Mahony
Our room was opposite the kitchens so there was the noise of extractor fans and glare of an outside light until late at night. Food service took a hit as the chefs were off ill, probably the same Covid like illness we had. The manager and bar staff made a valiant attempt to feed us, and we left satisfied.
September 2024 by Gareth Morris
Had a lovely stay at the Royal Oak for a wedding party. The pub is lovely, the staff were friendly and helpful and we had a super time. The cottage we stayed in was clean, spacious and cosy.
September 2024 by David Rigglesford
Very nice lunch on Saturday 21 September, service was a bit slow but very friendly and food was delicious. The downside was that we only found out when we arrived that a wedding reception was being held there later in the day so only basic menu and no specials, would have been helpful to know about the function in advance.
September 2024 by Abi
Fantastic stay at The Royal Oak, East Lavant. The staff were very friendly&helpful. The food, ambience, cleanliness and surroundings are to a very high standard.
BlackBerry cottage was great. Perfect setup for dogs. Area is exceptional. Highly recommend for a weekend away.
September 2024 by Colin Forrest
The food/service was poor, had to ask for a menu after a 20 minute wait, starters were just about ok. Fish and chips next, chips were very dry and obviously reheated a number of times, tatare sauce was awful, mushy peas were "stone cold" the fish was ok but was not cooked fresh. Nice pub, friendly staff, but wouldn't eat here again if it was free.
September 2024 by Melissa Irvine
Cosy pub with lovely food and attentive service. We both had the hanger steak and it was cooked well. Our only gripe would be a slight lack of variety of protein options for the mains eg. Another fish option would be nice rather than just fish and chips, and perhaps lamb could replace the three beef options (steak, burger, pie). But that?s only a minor thing. Highly recommended.
September 2024 by Stephanie Ferguswood
Lovely little pub with great food. Booked for a wedding locally and it didn't disappoint.
September 2024 by Lavinia Lewis
Super delicious food, lovely and friendly staff, cozy atmosphere and good drinks list.
September 2024 by Ben Evans
Very friendly team, particularly the guy running service on Weds night, everyone made a fuss out of Monty the dog! Food was lovely and served quickly. Lovely ?residents garden? at the back which is actually a giant field and we even saw some deer this morning! Negatives would be WiFi non existent in the rooms, could barely send a WhatsApp and the mattresses are really soft which I found quite uncomfortable, however overall the lovely staff and service mean I would stay again if in the area
September 2024 by Clarence Bean
We booked the room for a one-night stay six months ahead as we were attending a wedding party nearby. However at 5pm the evening before our stay we were called by the hotel to inform us that there was a wedding booking on the day we were due to arrive and that the pub would be closed to the public from 3pm so we would be unable to dine there after that. So we arrived early (around 1pm) on the day to ensure we could eat. We were welcomed by a personable male member of staff and ordered our lunch, which was very good. We are then shown to our room, which was adequate for our needs. The staff began setting up for the wedding on site from about 3pm. We departed for our party at 5:30pm. On our return to the pub around 10:45pm we entered the bar to purchase a nightcap but were told by a female member of staff that the event was private and we could not be in the bar. We explained that we were staying overnight and that we just wanted to buy a drink. The staff said that as long as we took the drinks back to the room then she would allow it. We duly retired to our room feeling like pariahs. The wedding disco did not finish until 11:30pm so there was no chance of us sleeping until after that time. We were rudely awoken at 7:30am by the extremely noisy kitchen extractor fan system switching on as breakfast was being prepared. We entered the bar and sat down for breakfast at 9:15am. Clearly there were very few staff on duty as ten minutes elapsed before we were even given menus. While waiting we explained to the staff member behind the bar that we had been made to feel that we were an inconvenience the night before and that being called up the day before our stay to inform us of the wedding wasn?t good enough. The staff member said she would pass our concerns on to the manager. No member of management bothered to see us before we left nor were we offered a refund of any part of our pre-paid booking fee. We then waited for the waitress to take our breakfast order which took another fifteen minutes , and twenty five minutes later our breakfast finally arrived (55 minutes after we had sat down to table and ten minutes after the close of breakfast). We had to ask for cutlery, napkins and even butter for our toast and again were made to feel like an annoyance to the staff. There is no way that a guest should be made to feel this way and be denied access to the pub having booked so far in advance. Had we been notified when the wedding booking was taken that the pub would be out of bounds to us then we would probably have stayed elsewhere but clearly Butcombe didn?t want us to have that opportunity. Not impressed or recommended and we will not risk booking with you again as this is unacceptable.
Rooms: Reasonable equipped but short on hanging space in wardrobe and there were wood lice in the bathroom.
September 2024 by Gill Lyon
Nice hotel with very pleasant staff
Rooms: Very pleasant rooms, clean and had everything we wanted, including shampoo, conditioner, hand wash, body wash and hand cream. . Tea and coffee making facilities but only decaffeinated coffee and we can?t stand that, it has no taste, would have been better if we?d had a choice. 2 bottles of water in a fridge, plus some milk
Food and drinks: Breakfast was good but for the fact that the menu stated that the full English included black pudding, but it didn?t. On 2nd morning the chef didn?t turn up but the young lady did all she could?.but couldn?t cook the eggs for the full English. Ate our evening meal the first evening and we both ordered steak, one medium rare and one medium, but when they came both were rare. The cut was a hanger steak and we?d never had that cut before - it wasn?t exactly tough but it was hard work. All that was on the plate was the steak, one mushroom and a third of the plate was covered in watercress, plus there was a side of chips. Would have been much better to have had extra mushrooms, some onion rings and a grilled tomato, with the watercress as a garnish only.
