The Royal Oak
The Royal Oak now:
The Royal Oak as it was:
Thomas, Fanny & Ellen Wheeler c 1910.
A fine Victorian building stood atop of the hill where the road ended in a rough track to Wood Street. It was in 1853 that Edmund Healy applied for, and got at that first application, a victuallers licence under the sign of the Royal Oak.
The land on which the Royal Oak was erected was known as Torr Field and was part of farmland belonging to Pound Farm in what was then called Mays Hill. A new dwelling-house building was built in 1851 by the landowner William Ede and a twenty-one-year lease granted to G. W. & F. A. Crooke, who were Brewers in Guildford.
The first fourteen years saw six landlords come and go, but sometime between 1867 and 1871 Thomas Wheeler arrived from the ‘Duke of Normandy’. That part of Normandy was in the West End Tithing of Worplesdon, so you could say that he was no stranger, since he had already given ten years’ service on the very borders of the village. He and his daughter served the Royal Oak for more than sixty-seven years. Thomas was also a wheelwright, presumably to John Chitty. Four of his six children were born in Wood Street. The eldest girls, Fanny and Nellie (officially Edith Ellen and later Mrs. Ellen White), were clever enough to be still at school at the ages of fourteen and thirteen years. It was Nellie who took over from her father when he retired in his eightieth year.
In the 1920’s the pub was run by Teddy & Nellie White nee Wheeler. Mrs Bruce & Nurse Constance Longhurst, the village nurse, ran a baby clinic in the back room.
Roy & Ella Hunt came to the Royal Oak in 1967 as landlords, taking over from Roy’s father, Ted Hunt, having a total time of 25 years at the pub. In December 1982 they were part of a syndicate of six people based at the pub who won £388,000 on Littlewoods Pools. They received the cheque at a champagne reception at Grosvenor House in London.
Royal Oak 1967
Following running the Spread Eagle (now the Guildford Tup) for many years from the early 1980s, Tony Oliver & his wife Flora, moved to the Royal Oak in about 1997. John Ruckley, a Licensee himself, bought the Royal Oak from the brewery as they couldn’t make it work as a business. Tony & Flora transformed the pub into an immensely successful business right through to 2012 when Tony was 73. He had a reputation for keeping excellent ‘CAMRA’ acclaimed draught beers & Flora’s food was wholesome pub fayre.
Dave and Natalie Chandler ran the pub sucessfully from 2012 to 2025 only for the owner to finally decide to sell his asset.
In May 2025 it was sold to new owners & remains closed to date ( March 2026).