Victoria Lounge Bar, Stoke-On-Trent

The Victoria Lounge Bar certainly is a lounge with raised seating to along the right wall and a bar along the front left facing rearwards to some tables and chairs. By the entrance is a food serving counter, but there was no sign of any food during my recent early evening midweek visit. A television was showing muted news and some low background music played. Standard keg was available and five of the six hand pumps were in operation drawing Brain’s Rev James, Cross Bay’s Night of the Living Red, Ossett’s White Rat, Salopian’s Oracle and Bass. I found it a bit stuffy in here so don’t plan on returning.

Looks like a very dull club from outside, so the attractive split-level interior comes as a very pleasant surprise. Traditionally furnished and decorated throughout, it obviously appeals to the older clientele unmoved by Hanley's other delights (but is none the worse for that). The external appearance isn't wholly deceptive either, since doors in the bar lead through to the associated snooker club. Six real ales on handpump, ranging from Bass and Rev James through beers from Castle Rock, Oakham and Salopian to the Staffordshire Rudyard Ruby ale (£3.10).

This unusual bar takes its name from the nearby theatre but is known locally as Reardon’s, which is the name of the adjoining snooker club. The building is certainly not much to look at on approach – all brickwork and very little in the way of windows, but inside there is a very cosy lounge bar feel to the place. The room has been decorated with some rather unusual floral wallpaper which you can’t seem to escape no matter what part of the room you move to, and has some old fashioned carpeting throughout. The left hand side of the room is raised and offers a good deal of comfortable seating options, with the front left corner partly screened by the entrance, therefore providing a degree of privacy not otherwise afforded by a fairly open plan layout. Loads of standard tables and chairs fill the centre of the room in smartly arranged rows with the kind of efficiency you’d normally associate with chains like Wetherspoons. The right hand side has some button backed sofas and further back the seating options are rounded off with some more standard chairs on a plain floored area which has a few uninspiring pictures on the walls. Music was playing during my stay, but there was at least one TV screen showing muted Match of the Day, allowing me to covertly enjoy highlights of my team’s victory over Stoke City from earlier in the day. For a bar attached to a snooker club, expectations of decent beer might be fairly slim, but there were six handpulls on the bar, only one of which was out of action, leaving a choice of Draught Bass, Wimbledon Copper Leaf, Salopian Oracle, Staffordshire Rudyard Ruby Premium and Brains Rev James. The bar staff seemed like a fairly friendly bunch and I enjoyed my pint of Oracle, which certainly merited the bar’s current entry in the Good Beer Guide. This seemed like a nice enough spot to enjoy a pint in comfortable surrounds and a relaxed atmosphere. The place appears to be very popular with the elder generation and certainly offers some refuge from Hanley’s noisier late night spots, but the downside of this is that the place lacks the character required to make it an unmissable venue. I’d say this is a solid pub that will appeal to those wanting a well kept beer selection in a refined setting.

This is a weird place, it's a bit like a small new Spoons attached to a Snooker club. It's a large open plan room with mostly low tables and chairs and a raised area on one side. There were some doors at the back marked "Members Only" which I had a peek through to see a load of snooker tables. It's carpeted throughout and it all looks very new. It was quiet on my Saturday afternoon visit with only one or two other people in. On the bar are six hand pumps which sadly this time had only mainstream beers on. These were Bass, Brain's Rev James, Robinson's Trooper, Old Speckled Hen, Holt's Two Hoots and Exmoor Fox. I went for the trooper (£2.90) which was in decent enough condition but slightly warm. It's GBG 2015 listed but was let down by the unimaginative beer choice.