The Royal Oak (Swallowcliffe, England): Difference between revisions

'''The Royal Oak''' is a pub located near [[Common Lane (Swallowcliffe, England)|Common Lane]] street in [[Swallowcliffe|Swallowcliffe]], [[England]]. It is a Grade II listed building.

While the precise date of construction is unknown, it was built by John Wright around 1705. By 1707, it was used as a tannery owned by Thomas Wright. The tannery was one of the reasons to move [[St. Peter's Church (Swallowcliffe, England)|St. Peter's Church]] to its current location in 1842. Between years 1852 and 1858 The Royal Oak pub (known as The Royal Oak Inn) opened for the first time.<ref name="history">[https://www.royaloakswallowcliffe.com/about/history History of The Royal Oak], royaloakswallowcliffe.com.</ref>

The Royal Oak pub was listed as a Grade II building on January 6th, 1966.<ref>[https://www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1250756#contributions-banner The Royal Oak], Historic England.</ref>

On August 31st, 2003 The Royal Oak pub ran fundraising to help with the maintenance costs of the [[Swallowcliffe Village Hall (Swallowcliffe, England)|village hall]].<ref>[https://www.swallowcliffe.com/building-royaloak.htm Royal Oak helps fund raise for the Village Hall], swallowcliffe.com.</ref>

The pub had to close in 2007. In 2012, several planning applications were made to turn the building into private housing, but they saw opposition from the local residents. After that, in 2015, local investors had bought the pub, and after an extensive renovation project it was reopened again.<ref name="history" /><ref>[https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-wiltshire-54219020 James May buys 'half' of Royal Oak in Swallowcliffe], BBC News, September 19th, 2020.</ref> Due to the {{W|Coronavirus pandemic|Coronavirus}} pandemic, the pub had to shut down. It was reopened again on October 28th, and had its first booking reserved on Christmas Day.<ref>[https://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/news/18752839.james-may-confirms-royal-oak-swallowcliffe-will-open/ James May confirms when The Royal Oak, Swallowcliffe will open], SalisburyJournal, September 28th, 2020.</ref>