The Royal Oak, Swallowcliffe
We kitted out one of our favourite local pubs, the Royal Oak at Swallowcliffe, with the whole caboodle: chairs, benches, tables, barstools…
The place is very popular and we regularly hear how comfortable people find our furniture, even when enjoying a few hours over a lazy Sunday lunch. A good test of a decent table & chair, we feel.
The story
Several years ago the Royal Oak in Swallowcliffe, Wiltshire, gave up the ghost under of the inevitable blows of economic reality. So it remained, in decline, until a quartet of Canute-like knights rode to the rescue, buying the pub and embarking upon its restoration. Fortunately their vision included “furnishings of our own time to enhance these ancient surroundings”.
We were determined that a local pub should have furniture made from local timber. Wiltshire ash took the lion’s share, with Hampshire and Wiltshire oak, Herefordshire sweet chestnut and Somerset rippled sycamore playing their parts. The bar stools were made from tiger, pippy and Lucombe oaks, olive and rippled ash, lacewood and rippled syacamore.
The pub has since changed (into some rather well-known) hands but our pieces remain in situ and the place thrives.
