Uk Barblog

The Preston (Wembley Park - London)

The Preston

Ember Inns are often seen as a more up level yet chain run and owned set of pubs which offer more than your run of the mill Wetherspoons. The Preston, however does not occupy a hugely decident area. Chavs spill into the car park as you approach the door, giving a rowdy and untrusted sentiment to the place and within they out-number the older crowd, spying at you from among the nice furniture and chain-pub artwork featured on the walls. The place is quite lounge-like, as is the style for all Ember Inns. Understandabley the barman has a bit of an attitude towards customers but there was no need to be as unfrindly as he was towards my nan! This pub often has a police prescence at the weekend and when ordering food, be prepared to wait and wait.

Overall quite good access to Wembley stadium - one of the only Gastros nearby in fact, and it would be a gem to bear, were it not for the mess of rowdy youths that only brent council can clear up - 4/10

The Torch (Wembley Park - London)

The Torch

The Torch in Wembley park is in an excellent location to recieve swamp-loads of persons from the neighbouring Wembley stadium in all of its glory and within arms reach of the tube. The pub is situated on a busy corner of the central roads in wembley and attracts people in fair numbers. The outside is a plateau of beechwood decking, hosting some large picnic tables, outdoor heaters and umbrellas. Inside is a multi-roomed sports bar with 4 rooms interconnecting around a busy bar. In each room is plenty of visibility for football and rugby matches and the crowd is mainly males and the tables are always populated. Finding a place to park here is difficult but eventually finding a table to eat at we find the place very noisy and a little uncomfortable. Move the clock forward a few hours and the place is completely packed with hundreds of people desperate to get served.

Overall the place is in a locvation which gets too popular but for sports fans when a game is not on it is probably quite the location. In my opinion  its a standard popular bar with little but sport to offer its punters, a good selection at the bar but nothing that jumps out - 5/10.

Bar 1930 (Wembley Stadium - London)

Bar 1930

The new wembley stadium was opened March 2007 and I was lucky enough to be one of the first to visit the ground and see up close the amazing building which has sparked so much discussion in the Uk media. The place itself is very impressive indeed its a meaty 90,000 seater stadium ready to house some of the best football matches the country will ever see. However checking the stadium's facitlites I was somewhat disappointed by the way refreshments were delivered to the ticket-holders. Drinks are dispensed from a Mc-donalds-fast-food-style desk with vast queues at each manned station. You approach the "bar" give your order and recieve plastic pint cups containing the most bland of lagers. The alcoholic variety ends there and wandering out of the queue I quickly realise that my bar experience is over- with no-where to sit with my beverage except my seat in the stands I am left trying to navigate a stampede of specators as I try to get the beverage back to my seat. I arrive wet, my pint halfway down my front only to lose the rest of it getting from the first seat on the row to my own.

Overall the place is a real spectable but the billions of pounds appear to have been wasted on an all-american pub solution which really deserves the character granted at the old venue but that, it is not- this "bar" gets 1/10.

Bar at Marriott Hotel Regents Park (Swiss Cottage - London)

Bar at London Marriott Hotel Regents Park

Supposedly one of the more quality establishments in london, this marriot hotel like most of its kind supports a small bar which is festering with drunken guests from the earliest hours of the afternoon. If you can find it within the hotels elaborate windings of event halls and auditoriums you will find yourself at a bar which is essentially a walkway for the wandering explorers of this modest establishment. Being a hotel they feel they can charge the earth for a brew and then spend most of the evening serving it to you. Clearly the bar is not the highest item on this hotel managers agenda but there are of course some fine items available including rare whiskey's, port's and cognac.

Overall it is the richer gentlemen's bar as is the hotel for its clients. Totally unimpressed by the bar's need to give no customer service what-so-ever this gets a rather poor 3/10.

Carey's Bar (Hendon - London)

Carey's Bar

This hendon bar is set on the main road among the kosher butchers and run down old stores. Its far more like a pub than your typical bar, its small to start with and on entering you find yourself ina sea of tables and uncomfortable chairs, with a bar ahead of you. The place is quiet and home to several gambling addicts and old spinsters who peer at me over their G and T's. Its £1.50 for a small coke served up by a friendly bar maid, the bar itself is badly stocked in terms of spirits but it looks quite good for larger. The music is rather varied from sixties and classical to modern rock. The front of the bar has those glass walls which open all the way so it feels like you are sitting on the street.

Overall I am not sure what the attraction to this place could be, its small and quiet, yes relaxing but boring. 4/10.

The Little House (Hendon - London)

The Little House

So, here's the scene.. Its a nice summers day and i'm out for a drink. I spot a nice looking tudor style pub on a corner and make my way inside. Nice deep purple carpets on the floor with tables ina  lower front helf of the pub and up some stiars to the bar and an upper half of the pub. As usual i have a quick nose around to find a table and spot a pool table and slot machine at the back. All of a sudden an oversized bar maid shouts at me in a horrible voice "OI, you buying a drink? ".. and before i answer "..Sorry mate the toilets are for customers, by something or FUCK OFF!" Well to say i was shocked is an understatment. What a nasty little hole in a strugglign community! I didnt get a look at the bar, but with an attitude like that i'd steer clear of this gaff til the old dear popped her clogs!

Overall 1/10. Nicely presented but what a bad experience!

The Claddagh Ring (Hendon - London)

The Claddagh Ring

Come through the wooden mockup front - an array of flowers, tables and smiles in the midday sunlights and step into a large room with a slightly small one ajoining to the left.The first room has a large number of tables to eat at and a half semi-cirlce of a bar which follows around into the bar in the next room. the second room has higher bar stools and is well laid out with a very good selection of spirits and shooters. Equipped with games machines and a pool table and tvs playing assorted sports through the day. The food is quite cheap in here- about £5 a dish and the steak is £9. There is the faint aroma of cigars in the air and the lightly wooden decor and drawn blinds reflects a very hazy and relaxed atmospher within. Both clientell and bar staff are friendly - all are pretty middle-aged.

Overall 6/10. Good place to bring a crowd if perhaps a little out of the way as it veers towards west hendon.