The Royal Oak, Holmbury St Mary

Extremely rude staff and manager. We arrived on a quiet midweek afternoon on a walk through the local countryside, the pub was empty and so was the village. Only one of the twelve or so tables outside had anyone at it. We sat down, ordered our beers (flat) and ate the sandwiches we'd bought with us on - there's no sign to say you can't, their kitchen was closed, and we'd just bought their (flat) beer. The manager sent his barwoman over and she hectored us like naughty schoolchildren, telling us if she let us eat our sandwiches she'd have to let all the cyclists (there weren't any) eat theirs too. it's not as if they had any other customers anyway! We left. Rude staff, flat beer, there's a much nicer pub down the road. Avoid this one unless you like being patronised while drinking badly kept beer.

27 Apr 2010 17:19