Posted by John I will mention it as politely as possible to them but when I previously asked them, very politely, if they could put their bottles in the bin every morning rather than every midnight Mr Tumnus treated me with disdain and said that they couldn't! Soon after they were made to get rid of their big metal bin anyway - though I cannot claim any credit for this. I don't know if he's always held me responsible for this but on the few occasions I go in there he always pointedly avoids acknowledging me. Alternatively, his rudeness may be because I wrote to the council objecting to their application for a late licence. I did exactly the same thing with the Nelson's Head and had a friendly chat with landlord Mervyn about it afterwards, with both of us acknowledging that we were sticking up for our own interests and didn't hold it against each other in any way. He assured me that, if successful, they would do their utmost to limit disturbance. To my amazement and horror they were successful, but I genuinely don't think that, since Mervyn took over, we have ever been woken by people leaving The Nelson. Most nights, however, (with two toddlers we're in bed pretty early) I am woken up by the braying of customers leaving The Royal Oak. Objectively, I think the Royal Oak is a fine pub, but I rarely recognise any of the customers in there and as far as I can tell they're a business through and through and have no sense of community whatsoever. You may call me a dreamer and I'm not expecting everywhere to be like The Wenlock but most pubs give a sense of serving some sort of community value. I hope somebody can prove me wrong in my criticism of The Royal Oak because I think it's a nice place to drink and has filled a real gap in the market. Anyway, now I've got that off my chest I'd best get on with my life. Is this the longest ever posting? Does that make me a published journalist?
on May 25, 2006, 3:16 pm
I don't suppose this really bothers anyone else, but I don't like the Royal Oak always leaving bin bags on the pavement of Ezra Street. It only bothers me because my wife is often pushing our two children down there in a double buggy and they have to go onto the road half way down. In the hopefully unlikely event that a car came hooning round the corner that could be very dangerous. I've never come across any other restaurants or pubs anywhere in London leaving so many bin bags on the pavement for so much of every day.
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