The sudden silence that fell upon Southampton's Houndwell Place in late 2016 was deafening, a stark contrast to the boisterous laughter and clinking glasses that had once echoed from the Royal Oak. But the pub held secrets, tales whispered in hushed tones over pints of ale, stories that ranged from the everyday to the utterly bizarre.  And among these, one particular tale stood out, a legend of a heist so audacious, so utterly unconventional, it involved… the theft of a urinal.

The pub, a beloved haunt for students and locals alike, had abruptly ceased its merrymaking, its doors locked, its taps dry. 

A simple sign, a hastily scribbled farewell, offered little explanation for the demise of this once-vibrant establishment. 

Just weeks prior to shutting, the Royal Oak had been a hive of activity, a vibrant hub displaying a cross section of local life.

Its Facebook page, a digital scrapbook of its social scene, had proudly announced screenings of the upcoming Leicester vs Chelsea match in December. 

The Royal Oak, like many of our cherished local pubs, was more than just a place to grab a pint. It was a repository of stories, a stage for the everyday dramas of life. 

Perhaps the most peculiar, a tale that still elicits a chuckle, was the infamous "urinal heist" of 2007. 

A shadowy figure was caught on grainy CCTV, brazenly exiting the men’s room with a suspiciously bulging backpack. The stolen prize? One of the pub's urinals, a trophy of the truly bizarre. The culprit, perhaps weighed down by the sheer absurdity of his crime, eventually surrendered to the police, receiving a caution for his un-loo-sual act.

This peculiar incident, while amusing, reminds us of the unique character of the Royal Oak, a place where the ordinary and the extraordinary intertwined. 

Yet, even such a storied establishment could not withstand the relentless pressures that claimed so many of Hampshire's boozers. 

These pictures were taken through the years at the much-loved, long-gone pub.