Royal Oak, Erith

Rebuilt 1930 by the Dartford Brewery Company in classic inter-war style by building behind the original (1860s?) pub which was then knocked down. It is of 1930s brick with a mock-Tudor first floor and still retains three rooms (possibly 4 originally) with the loss of the off sales. There are two rooms at the front – the Public Bar and Private Bar – and you go down the right hand side of the pub for the Saloon Bar entrance.

The front left Public Bar has an oak door with the figure ‘4’ on the back of it from the days of the licensing magistrates. It has a two-sided canted bar counter of diagonally laid panels (unusual for 1930s pubs) and with brackets regularly situated along it. The mirrored bar back looks to date from the late 1950s having an illuminated top panel with ‘Royal Oak’ on it in a style seen in Courage pubs. The walls are decorated with narrow strips of wood on a plaster background. There is a lovely curved seating in a bay window and what looks like a 1930s brick fireplace.

When built there was an off-licence on the central part of the front with a curved bay window but this was removed in the 1990s. If you look at the brick around the central window it does have a slightly different colour indicating it may have been rebuilt using original bricks. Maybe the front facing part of the Public Bar counter was originally the off sales one?

A doorway from the Public Bar leads to the Private Bar on the right (the front door has the figure ‘1’ on the back of it) and there is another door on the side of the pub. Maybe the front one was the entrance for the off-licence? The walls have been treated with the strips of panels on plaster which here has grooves in it to give the impression it is wood panels. The bar counter is also a canted one of diagonally laid panels (unusual for 1930s pubs) and with brackets regularly situated along it. There is a 1930s brick fireplace.

The Smoke Room on the rear right has its own separate vestibule entrance with two doors (right one no longer in use) which implies this large room was originally two separate rooms? There is a long canted bar counter of diagonally laid panels (unusual for 1930s pubs) and with brackets regularly situated along it and it curves on the right side. The bar back is essentially the original one with ‘The Royal Oak’ painted in gold along the top and some newer features such as glass shelves. The room has fielded panelling all around it to three-quarters height and also around the ‘beams’ (RSJ’s). On the right is a classic 1930s brick fireplace and on the left a marble surround one with brick interior and a hearth. There is a door at the rear right with above it painted in gold “Ladies And Gents Toilets’ – these were originally outside but in modern times a brick built passage has been built to give access to the toilets.