The Royal Oak was on Tamworth Road, near the canal bridge and right on the edge of Sawley parish. The adjacent coal wharf on the canal was known as Royal Oak Wharf.
The Royal Oak was said to have opened in 1777 to serve men working on the canal, although the building looked to be Victorian.
The first publican we’ve found is Hannah Harrison. She was born Hannah Howard c1794 in Barton in Fabis and married Thomas Harrison in Thrumpton. They moved to Castle Donington where their son, Thomas, was born in 1817. Thomas (senior) died in 1822 a few months before their daughter Sarah was born in Sawley. Another daughter, Martha, was born in 1836.
On the 1841 census Hannah was running the Royal Oak. She remained there until her death in 1874. Her son Thomas was running the Seven Stars Inn in Derby. She was succeeded at the Royal Oak by Mary Harrison (her niece?) until her death in 1880.
Frederick Robinson took over and was there until his death in 1892, the year the Royal Oak was first connected to mains water after a pipe from Long Eaton was laid over the canal bridge.
Frederick Robinson’s widow, Frances, then took over the licence. After she married Thomas Parker in 1894 it was transferred to his name. In 1901 he was charged with selling watered-down rum and with permitting drunkenness on the premises. Frances died in 1909 but Thomas Parker stayed on until at least 1911.
Frederick and Frances Robinson had 4 sons and a daughter. The oldest, Frederick, went to London to work at the Royal Small Arms factory in Enfield. The daughter, Stella, married Jack Sisson in 1916. By 1921 Stella Sisson was the licensee at the Royal Oak, while Jack worked as a storeman for Ericsson in Beeston. Her younger brother, Samuel Robinson (a lace draughtsman at Brittania Mills) was living with her, as were 3 (Parker) stepsisters and a stepbrother.
By 1939 Stella Sisson and her brother Samuel Robinson were partners at the pub. In 1941 they formed the Royal Oak Hotel (Sawley) Ltd company, with three other members of the Robinson family.
From 1946 to 1957 the landlord was Samuel Lee, a former engine driver. He left to take over a pub in Bulwell, where he was found dead in his beer cellar 5 years later.
In the early 1960s the landlord was LG Edwards.
In the late 1960s it was David Petty.
From 1970 it was David & Elizabeth Priestley. They were still there in 1978 when the pub was refitted, and the two public rooms were knocked together to form one large bar.
The Royal Oak closed in about 2009. It was demolished in 2014 and, several years later, replaced by the Long Eaton View Care Home.
