The Torch, Wembley

Official site of The Torch - www.greeneking-pubs.co.uk

Official site of The Torch - www.greeneking-pubs.co.uk

Vast 1950s pub which has been tarted up with a somewhat muddled decor, presumably designed to appeal to the sort of people who watch sports. The long bar is the centrepiece, with areas off including a games part, a Flaming Grill restaurant area, various high tables, a function suite and an outside patio. Undoubtedly gets heaving when there is an event on at nearby Wembley Stadium but not too bad at quiet times. Ales restricted to GK IPA, which was off, and Abbot, which was in fair condition.

This is a large John Barras pub that I last visited when it was heaving before an England game at Wembley a couple of years ago. It was obviously nowhere near as busy on my recent Thursday night visit, but there was still a decent sized crowd in attendance whilst the darts premier league was showing on the projector and plasma screens via Sky Sports. There are three hand pumps on the main bar, two of which were drawing Bombardier and the other Courage best and there is also a good selection of standard draught products. There are another three hand pumps on the left hand side of the bar, two of which were unused and Courage Best was on the third. A couple of pool tables and a dartboard are located in this section of the pub and around to the right hand side of this U-shaped pub there is a dining type area. I found the staff were generally friendly and I was served a decent pint of Guinness that came in at a good price. The food was also reasonably priced and seemed to be the usual pub fayre that one would expect to find in a JB establishment. There is some seating on a decked area outside the front of the pub and there is some more seating on the grassy hill to the side of the pub. There are speakers outside so that the TV commentary can be heard; I just hope that they are turned off on Thursdays after 20:30 as this is when the pub hosts its karaoke nights. This isn’t a pub that I would go out of my way to visit, but due to its location I will probably find myself in here again at some point as there is little competition in the area and its size means that it can cope with the football crowds.