The Royal Oak in Earlsdon was the only pub in Coventry to be added to the 2024 edition
05:00, 18 Oct 2023
Ben Colvin, manager of The Royal Oak, is delighted with the pub's addition to CAMRA's Good Beer Guide(Image: The Royal Oak)
It's glasses half full at a Coventry pub where staff are still toasting a major accolade. The Royal Oak in Earlsdon was the only pub in Coventry to be added to the Good Beer Guide when the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) announced the release of its 2024 edition.
Royal Oak manager Ben Colvin says the nod was a fine mix of hard work and pure expertise. "I'm absolutely made up by it," he told CoventryLive.
"It's great because it's hard work keeping real ale. You can get a pint of Carling anywhere, but it takes a lot of skill to stock really good cask ales and I think real ale drinkers appreciate that.
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"To be recognised for this, have people trying our beers and to get that feedback on what we've been working towards is brilliant." The Royal Oak joined six boozers and one brewery in Warwickshire in being added to the 2024 Guide, a bible for beer guzzlers up and down the land.
But stocking real ale is not without its commercial risks, as Ben explained. "You need real ale to turnover quickly because you've only really got one or two days when it's at its peak," he said.
"It's not like a keg which can be sat in a barrel for a good few days and still be okay, providing your lines (up to the pumps) are clean. It's a vicious circle because if you don't sell enough beer the turnover is not so quick and the beer doesn't taste as good because it's older."
The Royal Oak in Earlsdon has been added to CAMRA'S Good Beer Guide 2024 edition(Image: The Royal Oak)
Recycling stock isn't usually a problem at The Royal Oak and is not likely to be in the foreseeable as more drinkers 'gravitate' to real ales during the colder months. Ben said he was told about the pub's inclusion in the Guide not by CAMRA but by punters, demonstrating 'the power of it'.
He said the Earlsdon Street boozer intended to up its range of real ales from six to eight in the coming weeks. With that comes more preparation work given that some beers need a week to properly condition before they can be pulled.
The pub tends to serve four local ales at any one time and supplements its choice with nationally renowned 'big boys' brands such as Bass. Tipples from Alcester brewery Purity, including its Bunny Hop, are among the pub's most popular.
What The Fox's Hat, from Churchend Brewery in Nuneaton, is another crowd pleaser while Birmingham-based Froth Blowers Brewing Co also delivers some bestsellers.
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