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Date of photo: 2020	Picture source: Roland Locke
The Royal Oak was situated on Friday Street.
I used to live in Crawley during the late 80's and early 90's and did the King and Barnes Ale Trail on more than one occasion, and otherwise visited the Royal Oak on many occasions. It was an exceptional pub even then. I was told that the then publican presented himself to his doctor, who after tests advised he had malaria. Much (medical) head scratching because the publican had not been on a foreign holiday for many years, and had not been on holiday to a mosquitos or malaria.area. I understand you can contract malaria and it can be dormant and then occasionally "come out to play", having hidden away in the liver (?) for years. Either at the initial or subsequent examination, a small insect bite was found on the publicans back, the version I heard was that it was his bottom. With no recent foreign travel, and no previous symptoms, it was concluded that he was that he was stung / bitten by a mosquito whilst in Sussex, probably whilst outside in the garden, possibly sunbathing?. The Royal Oak is on the Gatwick airport flightpath, and on approach to the runway the cargo holds are "air purged", where the "old" air is flushed out and replaced with "fresh" air. I am guessing it might be a function of getting rid of condensation, I do not know. With no other explanation, it was concluded that during the purge, a mosquito who had "hitched a ride" was ejected, and made its way down to the ground - finding an inviting meal, and infecting the poor soul. Ok, not a very beery anecdote, but maybe some contributors or others viewing the site may be able to confirm, or possibly refute!
Simon Urry (March 2023)
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