CAMPAIGN FOR REAL ALE

MANCHESTER, GREATER - Eccles, Royal Oak

National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors Part One

34 Barton Lane, Eccles, M30 0EN

Tel: 07971 835029

Opening Hours: 9.30am to 11pm, but may close early if no customers

Draught Beer & Cider: Holts Bitter & Mild

Public Transport: Railway Station: Eccles; Metrolink: Eccles.

Listed Status: Grade II

View this pub on a local map

A red brick and terracotta corner pub built for Holts in 1904 during their great period of expansion. The pub has benefited from minimal investment over the years and remains largely unaltered. Even the stable block in the back yard has stayed intact. The Lobby bar has a terrazzo floor stretching from the door on Barton Lane to the entrance on Corporation Road. It has an impressive screened servery with sliding hatches most of which are still intact and held in the upright position. The hatches serve three rooms - the News Room, Bar Parlour and former Billiard Room. The lobby is lined with a dado of dark green Art Nouveau tiles. A fireplace in the corner is original but the tiles are modern. The tiling continues up the staircase and along a passage to the former Billiard Room (but on one side the tiles are modern).

The large Vault (on etched glass panel in door) still has a separate entrance, a terrazzo floor and a long bar counter. The richly detailed bar counter has mahogany screens with cut and etched glass. In a corner of the vault was a virtually intact outdoor department but this was removed in 2001 - the terrazzo floor indicates where it was and the door panel 'Outdoor Dept.' now resides in a short screen. The fixed seating where the off sales was situated is modern but matches the other original seating. The pot shelf is modern as is the fireplace but both look to be of some age.

The inner door on the Barton Lane side has a 'Royal Oak Hotel' etched panel. Front door on the left has a 'News Room' etched panel and leads to a room which retains original fixed seating, but has lost its fireplace and has plain windows. The 'Billiard Room' has a etched panel in the door, fixed seating around most of the room remains as does a number of windows. Near the Corporation Road entrance is the Bar Parlour which also retains its original door and etched panel, fixed seating with bell pushes in a panel above, an original tiled and wood surround fireplace - all the windows are modern replacements.