Home > Essex > Loughton > Royal Standard Royal Standard
Date of photo: 2015	Picture source: Colin Price
The Royal Standard was situated at 126 High Road. This was converted to Minx night club c1999 and is currently used as Luxe night club.
Reopened in 2017 as The Standard, a gastro pub.
Nick Darrant (March 2018)
Local newspaper review by John Cutting, 1967
The Royal Standard at the corner of the High-road and Smarts-lane in the heart of the yellow band area of Loughton is easy to pass by, for the green tiles on its walls seem to camouflage the building effectively against the back ground of the trees on the adjacent Green. Moreover, the entrance to the saloon, in the side road, is so self-effacing and inconspicuous that it gives no hint of the treasures that lie within. But, behind that door, glimmering in the subdued lighting of the saloon is a veritable Aladdin's cave of curios, ornaments and bric-a-brac. Presiding over this wealth of bar fittings, which would make many a collector's eye green with envy, is Mrs. Lily Knight, who has lived at the Royal Standard for the past 12 years. Mrs. Knight has three daughters, who at one time assisted her and who had the reputation of being the loveliest barmaids in Loughton. Marriage, however, claimed all three of them within a space of 11 months and now she relies upon the support of her two sons. Mrs. Knight has been in the trade for over half a century and it was 35 years ago that she was married from the Forest Gate Inn on Bell Common which, at that time, was owned by her parents. Standing in the bar, surrounded by her collection, Mrs. Knight recalled many personalities and events of the past. The great-hearted Josie Collins and her husband Dr. Kirkland were regular customers for a large number of years and it was Josie who donated a number of beautifully decorated vases. Tankards inscribed with prominent buildings in the New World and a bottle of Guinness which was imported into America by Dublin Distributors Inc., of New York, are mementos of a wonderful trip across the Atlantic to see the World's Fair in 1964. The handsome grandfather clock was taken over when she inherited the inn, while she added the beautiful settle and the wide range of toby jugs which were family heirlooms. There are a number of decorated shells dating from the 1914-18 World War, each of which bears the name of a lucky customer who was able to write his name on it and live! Around the shelves there must be a small fortune in different wines, spirits and beers brought back by friends from various continental trips or which mark special landmarks in the history of two famous breweries. There is a bottle of Charrington's bi-centenary beer brewed in 1957 and another of Guinness which commemorated 200 years of the famous Irish brewery in 1959 and which is decorated with a picture of Arthur Guinness, the founder, who lived from 1725-1803 I saw kummel in an imitation Etruscan vase, a bottle of rare old amontillado sherry still in its wicker basket, and a glass female nude holding apricot brandy. Among other rarities there is a half-litre of brandy in a bottle shaped like a map of Spain, another with creme de cacao blanca in an imitation leather bottle, while more brandy is contained in the head of a delightful Spanish senorita. Reflecting happily on these exotic wines and spirits Mrs. Knight then produced a Spanish musical box in the shape of a bottle of Veil Armagnac while, on the counter, a ballet dancer pirouetted in the depths of a bottle of Bols. Still fascinated by the wealth and variety of these bottles, Mrs. Knight next pointed out to me her wonderful collection of fire-arms, swords and daggers. Beautiful dolls from Portugal and Holland decorate one corner of the bar, while valuable oil lamps, which once supplied the lighting, are still on show. Musing on the old days, Mrs. Knight told me how one of her regular customers, Bert Wade, remembers the time, 60 years past, when he used to call at the Royal Standard at 6 a.m. to refresh himself for his day's work on a pennyworth of rum in a halfpenny cup of coffee. Surrounded by these relics of the past it is, however, still possible to appreciate that Mrs. Knight has a modern outlook on life. The beer is excellent and, at lunch time, many people come to eat her excellent sandwiches filled with choice ham and prime beef cut direct from the joint. Leaving the Royal Standard on a depressing April evening, it seemed that within the golden treasury of mementos was bound up half a century of memories, hopes and fears—was it as the poet wrote: "a vision or a waking dream."
Brewers: Charrington & Co. Ltd.
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Name	Dates	Comments
Alex Knight	1998	My Dad lived in the pub and his dad my granddad owned the pub.
Sean Freeman	1996/1998	Used to drink here, most nights, proper pub, unpretentious and when England were on it was madness, in a good way! Also the coolest barmaid Michelle