A tragic number of pubs close every week in the UK. Still more stop selling real ales. It's rare to hear of a pub reopening after a closure. And it's even rarer to hear of a pub with no real ale -- or with an apathetically kept handpump or two -- changing hands and restarting as a decent real ale pub. Down in the fairly isolated Marsh town of Lydd, between the sands of Dungeness and the green stretches of Old Romney, a splendid event has occurred. The Royal Oak on the southwest end of town has reopened as a real ale lover's pub with a lot of promise. New to the pub trade, landlords Trevor and Mandie Brown received excellent training from their friends Stuart and Gilly Gresswell (of the Guildhall in Folkestone). And Trevor, like Stuart, loves his real ales with a passion. | ![]() |