Royal Oak Hotel

The Royal Oak Hotel is substantially an 18th-century building, with early 19th-century extensions, and incorporates remnants of an earlier structure on the same site. Documentary evidence suggests an inn has been present since at least 1745.

The hotel consists of a main range facing Church Street, and a rear wing parallel to Severn Street. It was extended in the early 19th century with a continuation of the main range and a wing built behind the site. The main fabric is brick, with a slate roof, a gable end stack on the left, and a rear wall stack on the right. The main range is three storeys high, with a seven-window range facing Church Street, featuring a slightly advanced right-hand bay and a main entrance on the right side of the angle between the bay and the main range. A secondary entrance is positioned towards the centre of the building. The main entrance is housed within a stone Tuscan portico porch. The secondary entrance features a six-panelled door with an overlight set within a moulded architrave. The lower windows are 12-pane sashes, and similar windows are above, although the entrance features tripartite small-paned sashes and the left side of the first floor has similarly divided windows. Flat arched, rendered heads cover the wider windows, while the attic storey features lower 8-pane sash windows below a modillion eaves cornice. The advanced right-hand bay is canted and has tripartite small-paned sashes on each floor. To the left of the main range is a later addition, the 'Ostlers' Bar' range, which is brick with a slate roof and a rear wall stack. It's a three-storeyed, three-window range with a central entrance. The lower openings have been renewed, but the upper windows are 20-pane sashes with flat arched brick heads; one has been replaced with a 2-light mullioned and transomed casement. A dentilled eaves band is visible. The return elevation facing Severn Street features similar 12 and 9-pane sash windows, two on the ground and first floors, and three above. Paired stacks are visible on its right-hand gable. The rear wing, running parallel to the main entrance range, is a somewhat later addition, likely from the early 19th century, and is three storeys high with a five-window range, similarly detailed. A fine wrought-iron sign and bracket are positioned towards the angle with the entrance range.

Inside, a wide entrance hall leads to the main stair hall towards the rear. This features a shallow dog-leg oak staircase with moulded tread ends, turned newel posts, and plain spindles, rising to a similarly detailed gallery, forming a spacious square well. In the current dining room, within the rear range of the hotel, alteration work revealed a timber-framed partition wall which is probably a remnant from an earlier building on the site.

The Royal Oak Hotel is a well-preserved town coaching inn of exceptional quality.