Paignton – Talk of the Town (JD Wetherspoon)
I didn’t get a photo of the exterior, so I’m using one from Google Streetview instead. I hadn’t initially intended on coming here, but Ross went off on some expedition and so that gave me a chance to catch up with some things such as this riveting blog. JD Wetherspoon took this pub over in 2011 and, slightly unusually for them, they kept the name. I’ll use their version of the venue’s history:
“The original Talk of the Town was opened in 1996 by the Elisseos family. The family’s connection with this site goes back to 1945, when Alexander Elisseos bought the Argosy Café and renamed it the Actina Café. The Actina Café occupied 46–48 Torbay Road. In 1959 Mr Elisseos bought the neighbouring Bayside Guest House at 50–52 Torbay Road and converted it into the Hamby cafeteria. Alexander’s son Perry, his daughter Mrs Sandy Purland and his wife Dorothy Elisseos combined both venues in 1995–6 to create The Talk of the Town.”
I’ve been here three times now and this is a photo from a few weeks ago, one of the occasional times that it’s been quiet enough to take a photo without getting people in it. The team members all seemed friendly and on my most recent visit I could only find a table with heaps of empty glasses, but they were quickly and pro-actively removed and everything cleaned up.
This is the Scrum-Half Nectar from Summerskills Brewery, just £1.09 for half a pint. It was light and malty, smooth with a slight taste of toffee. There’s normally around six real ales available here, alongside numerous craft beers and the myriad of other food and drink they sell.
It has about average reviews on-line for a JD Wetherspoon outlet as I couldn’t help myself from checking on Google.
“Lovely place, very busy and great vibe! Prices excellent. But whoever is cooking the curry, uses way too many spices. I ordered a vindaloo, my partner ordered the tikka masala. Both were almost inedible. Way too many chillies and hot curry spices. I’m one for very hot food, and ordered vindaloo many times, but this was over the top. No flavour, just a mouth on fire. Would definitely go back for the atmosphere and service, and other food which is usually good, but won’t order the curry again between us.”
I’m not convinced that the chef out the back has much say in how many chillies are in the dish and I’m struggling to see how the tikka masala would have been so spicy that it was inedible….
“Food and service excellent but all was spoiled because of a table of 2 females and 1 male and young child who never stopped crying. The adults in the end took in turns taking young child out of building walking it up and down for 5mins at a time and while this was going on the adults were still able to order on their app beer and wine. There was no consideration for other people many who were diners having to put up with constant child crying like what happened today. I have been in other wetherspoons where only 2drinks were allowed per person where children were present. Why on earth was this allowed to go on for amount of time that it did??? We come out to have drink something to eat relax and enjoy and NOT to be feeling we sat in a kinder garden and just for the record I do have children but wouldn’t expect others to put up with what’s gone on today. Plus should you really be supplying people with alcohol that are responsible for very young babies”
Or just move table if kids are annoying… I can almost sense the Daily Mail headline of ‘ordered out of pub by staff after baby cried’ which would ensue if that was their general policy….
“Their ramen noodles bowl is actually spaghetti noodles which is not stated on the menu which caused my girlfriend to throw up “
Nice…
“I’m so disappointed that on an incredibly hot day we chose to sit at the front of this establishment with our dog to enjoy some food. I understand dogs are not welcome inside or their pub gardens but to be turned away from open seating on the public footpath in front is very shameful.”
It’s hard to see how JD Wetherspoon could be any clearer that they don’t want dogs inside or in their external seating areas, but yet some customers still think they’re exempt and then leave a 1-star review….
“I ordered egg benedict fir breakfast . The eggs were hard so the waitress said she’d get it redone. The 2nd plate arrived and the eggs were hard ! She insisted I try again and when the 3rd plate arrived . Guess what ? The eggs were hard! I was refunded and ordered a traditional English breakfast instead and the egg was runny .. yay!”
I’m not sure I would have had that many attempts, but I sympathise for the customer, Eggs Benedict should have a runny egg…
This seems to be a very busy venue, even though I’ve visited at off-peak times, so it must be packed during the summer months. The price point is towards the higher end of the scale, but they don’t seem to have problems filling the tables. There are quite a few power points dotted around which was handy for charging devices, although the corridor to the toilets upstairs was a bit tight. Anyway, all rather lovely and a reliable venue to visit.
