The Arch, Wembley

Very handy for Wembley stadium. Central bar served a keg selection on my post nfl visit.

The lease has been up for grabs for the best part of a year. The owners are Heineken (aka Star Pubs and Bars), but it was originally an Ind Coope house. One of the reasons the large suburban pubs in NW London have declined or closed is that the areas where tney were built originally had restrictive covenants making the opening of new pubs illegal. This changed in the eighties(?) when this grossly unfair situation allowed shop conversions to mainly Irish bars. Wetherspoons also got in on the act, but the only remaining one in the Wembley area is JJ Moons in the High Street which isn't their best outlet. I find it hard to see how a global corporate abomination like Heineken will ever make this pub work other than on match days.

Still closed and boarded up but the lease is being offered for sale with an indication that it will be refurbished and say as a pub. Let's hope so.

I wasn’t sure whether this pub was open or not as I approached as it was surrounded by large metal sheeting that one would often see around a building site. It was only as I got closer that I realised they were being used to create a car park that I imagine the management here were using to earn some extra money by charging the visitors to Wembley Arena for leaving their vehicles. Maybe this extra money could be used to decorate the interior of the pub which has certainly seen better days. The first thing that was impossible not to notice was the over powering smell of incense that was wafting through the pub. There is a seating area in the rear right hand side of the pub that looks like it is used for dining so maybe, like many pubs in Northwest London, this place doubles up as an Indian restaurant. The main area which houses the bar is found at the front of the pub and is large and sparsely decorated, but there is a TV screen up on the wall and Sky Sports is shown. There is another room at the rear of the pub which houses two pool tables and probably another TV. Outside seating is very limited with one table in a small area that is railed off from the car park. There are two hand pumps on the bar, one of which was unused and the other had Deuchars which was off leaving a standard draught selection. I had a half of Guinness which was passable. This pub has extended opening hours until midnight Monday thru Thursday, 1.30am on Friday and Saturday and 11pm on Sundays. I’d imagine there is some sort of disco or live music at the weekends, but the only advertisements I spotted were for the Thursday Karaoke nights from 8pm. This pub has seen better days and it would need a lot of money spent on it to reach its full potential.