Meet Stacey Hart who runs The Royal Oak on the High Street. A village pub in the town centre.
The
Royal
Oak
Born and lived in Wrexham all her life, Stacey Hart, publican - has been the proud owner of The Royal Oak since November 2016. We sat down and had a pint of her best-selling Green Monkey beer, and hear her story first hand on a busy Friday afternoon, just before the weekend customers descended and became standing room only.
Stacey's
Journey
Previously, Stacey worked for many years over at the nearby Horse and Jockey pub. She proudly shared her journey about her life of working behind the bar and how she ended up running one of the oldest and most popular pubs in Wrexham.
The previous landlord had recommended Stacey to the brewery behind the pub, Joules, who made it their mission to recruit her.
The story of just how Stacey secured the pub is now infamous.
The
Story
The previous landlady said to her late one night in nearby Penny Black’s at 2am “Stacey, we are leaving, but don’t tell anyone yet. And the good news is the Area Manager wants to see you tomorrow morning bright and early at 10am”.
Somehow her first interview went well despite the late-night and short notice and the owners of Joules then met her soon afterwards for a second meeting. The brewery owners explained that due to changes in personal circumstances, they were now looking at an emergency appointment starting in just two weeks’ time and Stacey had just 48 hours to decide whether she wanted to take over the Royal Oak permanently.
Thanks
Bill
Stacey’s taid (granddad) Bill Lewis sadly had passed away just that September. Bill kindly had left Stacey enough by way of an inheritance for the deposit for the premises. Be it fate or simply what was meant to be, Stacey took the plunge and decided on the spot to invest her inheritance and take the Royal Oak on. That was nearly 10 years ago, and Stacey thanked her taid for the opportunity for her to achieve her long-term ambitions of running her own pub.
Stacey has kindly supplied this picture of her taid; Bill Lewis.
A Long
History
Bill Lewis published a book called ‘Passing through Time’, which a copy is held in the local museum and Stacey’s own copy was lent to us after our meeting. Bill’s book is a personal tale of his life, the people that he knew and all the places that meant a lot to him, growing up and living in Wrexham nearly a century ago.
With a list of previous landlords dating back to 1780 on display, there is a long and proud history at The Royal Oak.
The
Secret
All these years later, Stacey has running the pub today down to a fine art. She said to us;
“Since taking on the pub, I’ve never looked back. I will be here as long as I am able to. This is all I’ve ever known and done for the whole of my life. The bar is my home. So, make sure you pop in and say hello!”
Her team of 5 staff are a tight knit crew who work hard and socialise together and make the place what it is. Stacey is widely recognised as one of the key characters in the local community, welcoming both new customers and old to one of Wrexham’s oldest traditional pubs.
Welcoming
With regular live music, an official venue for FOCUS Wales, a real fire, darts and a jukebox, The Royal Oak is a proper pub, and is always famously very welcoming.
In addition, The Royal Oak have a wide range of changing seasonal IPA’s, guest beers and premium beers, and cask beers - hand pumped – so you won’t be ever short of choice.
And with a brand new seating area outside, you will be able to catch some summer rays whilst sipping on a cool craft lager or beer.
Pop into see Stacey and the team and ask for a 'skittlebomb' – they’re famous for it!
