Shropshire Star

The Shrewsbury pub with a royal name celebrating the King's coronation

As pubs continue to battle the cost of living crisis, the Shropshire Star continues its Love Your Local series which celebrates our local inns.

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Landlord Jonathan Francis Reynolds and Kirsty Sumner raise a glass to the King at The Royal Oak pub

The Royal Oak in Shrewsbury will be celebrating the King's coronation by inviting the county town's acoustic society to play music throughout the pub.

Charles III and Camilla will be crowned in an historic event at Westminster Abbey on Saturday, just one month shy of the 70th anniversary of Elizabeth II's coronation in June 1953.

To celebrate the historic event, people across the country will be partying and taking part in celebrations to mark the occasion, including pubs such as the Royal Oak, which will be decorated in red, white and blue with bunting hanging.

The Royal Oak which is aptly named considering the weekend's historic event, will be hosting a celebration in the evening for their regulars, locals and families all around.

Jonathan Francis Reynolds, 43, from Wolverhampton, is the landlord, and has been running the establishment for seven months.

The bar is decked out ready for the King’s Coronation

Jonathan has worked in the hospitality industry for almost 30 years now, since he left school. In that time he has worked as a chef, a bar and restaurant manager and a hotel manager.

Having previously worked as part of a pub management team in Wolverhampton, Jonathan took over the Royal Oak towards the end of 2022, and said he loves his career in the hospitality industry.

He said: "I love doing this as a career and it was what I wanted to do since I was younger.

"I did initially think that I would stay in hotels but pubs is my calling and so I love being here.

"It's the social aspect which I love, being able to meet people, develop relationships with people are having conversations with lots of different people.

Customers raise a toast

"It has been fantastic working in the Shrewsbury area, and the brand Black Country Ales are brilliant to work with, I actually wanted to work with them for a long time.

"Of course Black Country Ales usually focuses on pubs in the Black Country but this is one of their pubs the most furthest out, so it was a task to bring the interest to the brand from this area.

"And I can say that it has been very well received. People have worked very hard since it became a Black Country Ales pub in 2015 and to bring it to where it is today."

Black Country Ales own a wide range of pubs across the Midlands region, and the Royal Oak carries three lines of their drinks which are produced in their brewery, and also have guest ales and ciders.

Jonathan runs the pub alongside his partner, Kirsty Sumner, where they also live with their two children, aged seven and 11.

The eye-catching Royal Oak pub in Shrewsbury

The father-of-two said that both he and Kirsty try to spend as much time as possible front of house which has helped them build relationships with customers.

He added: "Both me and Kirsty spend a lot of time front of house and have really good relationships with people which has been built by doing this and being present as much as we can.

"We feel that it is very important to do this as it brings people back because they clearly get along with us.

"We have been able to make the pub into a style of pub that has a family feel but is also a traditional ale house too.

"We allow families, and dogs in, which attracts a lot of walkers, and also the showground nearby which hosts festivals and events, they send people over to us and we advertise with them, and so it really helps bring people in.

"Building relationships is a big thing for us, and we have done so with two neighbouring pubs.

"We do not run as being in competition but instead, we help one another and takes each other into consideration.

"So if someone is having an event in the morning, we then won't run an event at the same time, and we all work that way and it really helps."

Working with the three pubs and adapting to one another has allowed for the Royal Oak to be able to host a celebration event for the coronation on Saturday evening, with the acoustic society attending and playing music which Jonathan said is really popular with the locals, as they attend the pub and play once a month.

The hospitality industry has been through a torrid time in recent years with the Covid pandemic and now the cost of living crisis, but Jonathan, having worked in the sector for almost 30 years, and during the pandemic as a hotel manager, knows what it takes in order to get the pub back to where it once was.

He said: "I think that we can see an upturn now. People seem to be willing to come out once again and so it is slowly returning back to normality.

"People had become to used to drinking at home for cheaper, but I think that if you run a good pub, and provide something different in the pub then they will come out, and we are seeing that, thankfully.

"We will be starting to host regular events, with a charity fundraiser for dementia being the first one.

"Initially we focussed on getting the pub right and where it needed to be during our first six months but now we plan to focus on things like events.

"So for the coronation, we will have the Shrewsbury Acoustic Society attending and playing for everyone in the evening, and it is free to attend.

"The way they set up in the pub it is perfect for this kind of music and the locals love hearing it, no doubt it is well received.

"Of course the pub will be decorated with bunting for the coronation and it will be played on the TV screens in the pub.

"I have noticed that the people around here in this area are very interested in the coronation and so of course we will be having it on"