Annual Health & Safety Inspection Visit
Alfred van Pelt • 4 August 2025
Annual Health and Safety inspection concluded
Running a community business like the Royal Oak requires a lot of expertise regarding all kind of different matters. Luckily there has always been a good representation of business skills within the management committee and the volunteers who support the HOTV. Still though, for certain topics , we seek assistance and advice from specialised partners who are fully up to date on latest legislation specific to our kind of set up.
With respect to all matters Health and Safety we have partnered with Citation who have recently conducted their second annual site inspection. Their report is now available for you to view by simply clicking on the image above. As you will see in the report the inspector had noticed that a huge number of observations and actions listed in their previous report had been followed up. As can be expected from any inspection in a world where rules and even perceptions of rules change over time the inspection has highlighted a list of new recommendations, further improvements and entirely new actions. Partly due to the building having undergone considerable alterations since the last Citation visit.
Since receiving the report the MC has worked through the actions and recommendations and many of those you can already see put in place in various places in and around the Royal Oak. Others are in the process and planned to be in place as soon as we possibly can.
Since receiving the report the MC has worked through the actions and recommendations and many of those you can already see put in place in various places in and around the Royal Oak. Others are in the process and planned to be in place as soon as we possibly can.
Thanks to the cooperation with Citation we are in a position to maintain high Health and Safety standards at The Heart of the Village
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Would the people outside the Royal Oak on this historic photo ever have imagined that the building and its business would at some point be fully owned by the community? Back in those days the pub was the social meeting place. Back then there were many more pubs on the Somerset Levels than the current numbers. Like the villagers in this photo you might not be wondering about the future of what is now the community owned Royal Oak with a thriving village shop, a popular café, a typical village pub and a kitchen and function room that offer countless possibilities. Still you no doubt have thoughts about what you like and not like about the current offering. Now is the time to share those thoughts. The Heart of the Village management committee, responsible for the community enterprise, has launched a survey to help build a plan for the future. The survey is your chance to give your honest opinion about what is currently on offer as well as bring ideas for change and improvement to the table. No idea is too crazy to voice. The very fact that HOTV got off the ground and is a healthy business is the very proof. Your input will help make it serve even more needs of the community and make the community enterprise future proof.
From the moment the idea was born to get the community to come together and buy the Royal Oak and transform it into a thriving community hub there has been information about the Heart of the Village (HOTV) on the Stoke St Gregory website. We thank everyone involved in setting the many pages of information up and maintaining them over time. In order to be able to create a clearer profile of all things HOTV it is now time to present our very own website