Est. 2020 · Brookside, Scopwick
An old pub with a new accent
Three hundred years of Lincolnshire history, and a family kitchen from a Greek island.
The building
Beside the beck since the early 1700s
The Royal Oak has been Scopwick’s pub since the early eighteenth century: a stone-built local on Brookside, facing the beck that runs the length of the village. Generations of the village have drunk, eaten and argued about the quiz here.
Like a lot of village pubs, it has had its quiet spells. The doors closed for more than a year before the pub reopened in October 2019, and the story since then has been anything but quiet.
The family
From Zakynthos, with a full table
In 2020 a family from Zakynthos, the Ionian island the Venetians called Zante, took on The Royal Oak and gave it its second name: the Hellenic Dining House. It is a family-run place in the plainest sense. The recipes are the ones they grew up eating at home, cooked the way they were taught, in portions that assume you are hungry.
Nothing about the pub was thrown away to make room for the taverna. The bar still pours three changing real ales. The games room still has its pool table and darts. It simply became a village pub where the kitchen happens to be Greek.
The kitchen
What Zakynthian cooking means
Slow stews
Kokkinisto and stifado: beef braised gently with tomato, shallots, red wine and warm spice, the way island kitchens have always stretched good ingredients into something rich.
The charcoal grill
Souvlaki, gyros, koftas and lamb chops over charcoal, seasoned simply and served with pitta, tzatziki and chips. Best ordered as a mixed grill when the whole table is in.
Meze to share
Dips, saganaki, keftedes, vine leaves and cheese pies in the middle of the table. Sharing first is not a serving suggestion in Greece; it is how a meal starts.
The pub
Still a proper village local
The Greek menu never pushed the pub out. There are three changing real ales on the bar alongside Guinness, Stella Unfiltered and San Miguel on draught. The games room keeps its pool table and darts. Dogs are welcome, and on warm evenings the garden fills the benches beside the beck.
Quiz nights, jam nights, live bands and DJ nights carry on through the year, because a village pub should be somewhere things happen, not just somewhere to eat.