Not already a member?
Join our community and
- Rate & review pubs
- Upload pictures
- Add events
JOIN for free NOW
Chat about:
Random news of the day with Tris39
on the Pub Forum
Detail Pages
Victoria Lounge Bar, Stoke-On-Trent
Hanley
Postal town: Stoke-On-Trent
ST1 3AF
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 6½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve C left this review about Victoria Lounge Bar
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.
On 19th January 2023
- rating: 5
[User has posted 5251 recommendations about 5219 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Bucking Fastard left this review about Victoria Lounge Bar
The external appearance is of a Working Mens Club and the large internal space much the same with it's lack of natural light.Internal doors are mirrored which helps a little but the lights have to be on all day as there are no windows.The entrance to the members only Reardon Snooker Club is well marked.The open plan main room has a raised seating gallery to the left and a raised dining area to the right.Sadly a large flatscreen was playing daytime TV at some volume and the few punters inside were all transfixed by the awful programming,which dominated the atmosphere.
A large variety of food is served with some very good value dishes but cooking smells will waft into the main room.Decoration is neat and tidy but with many red sofas dotted about it does feel like Gods waiting room.
The bar has 6 handpumps offering on my trip Sharp's Doom Bar and Atlantic,Hobgoblin and Bass with I assume guests of GunDog Yankee Poodle and Salopian Oracle,in very good nick and no doubt the reason for its GBG listing.Oracle apart that's a dull line up.
Worth including on a crawl but I can't imaging wanting to stay here for a long session,it's all too downbeat and may suit the very elderly much better.
On 20th June 2019
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2727 recommendations about 2727 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about Victoria Lounge Bar
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).
On 23rd June 2018
- rating: 7
[User has posted 8117 recommendations about 8117 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about Victoria Lounge Bar
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.
On 30th December 2016
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Aqualung . left this review about Victoria Lounge Bar
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.
On 1st June 2015
- rating: 6
[User has posted 2143 recommendations about 2143 pubs]