ReviewFrom the outside the Castle is a grand Victorian pub situated on an imposing corner plot at the junction of Grosvenor Rise and Eden Road, tucked away behind Walthamstow Village.
Internally it has gone through several incarnations over the last 5 to 7 years as various owners tried to position it and get advantage from the continuing gentrification of the Walthamstow Village and surrounding area. Previous makeovers gave the impression of being done with minimal cost but not this last one that has the Castle being firmly positioned as a Gastro pub. In fact all the advertising, including the information board outside the pub promotes the Castle as “Walthamstow’s first gastro pub”.
Whether this current incarnation and interior in particular appeals, will be down to personal taste. For my personal taste I find these minimal gastro interiors, (stripped wooden floors, sober tables, liberal use of Farrow & Ball pastel paint colours, loaded bookshelves to try and give the place some character, e.t.c.) all a bit sterile and bland. And combined that with the fact that internally, The Castle is one large space with a high ceiling around the central bar area which, when it is not full of people, as it was not on my late evening visit, cuts a pretty boring and frankly depressing atmosphere.
It definitely leads on food, but as we were only here for the beer and you will be better off googling restaurant review sites for how this place performs as a ‘child friendly restaurant’ and it certainly seems to polarise opinions. It really depends whether you are prepared to sit in a pub, order food and drinks at the bar and pay restaurant prices for the privilege. With the very good local restaurants of Eat17 and The Village Kitchen a short walk away on Orford road, I can’t see myself doing that in the near future.
But on the beer front, things have improved and the large wood beamed bar top now supports six real ale pumps which were dispensing TT Landlord, Hook Norton Hooky, Spitfire, London Pride and Brains Reverend James with one reversed, a solid enough if not overly exciting line-up. And here again, with the nearby Nags Head and The Village pubs providing local ales from the increasing number of East London Micro Breweries you just feel The Castle is missing a trick by going with the safe options. But my pint of Reverend James was perfectly fine.
The refurb has also provided a converted designer beer garden at the back but didn’t get a chance to look at this on our late evening visit.
My first visit to the Castle in this current incarnation for an evening pint had me a bit underwhelmed by the experience, but there’s enough here to have me visit again when back in the Village area.
This is a fine Victorian building exterior and I hope it survives as a pub for that reason alone.
