The Windsor Castle, East Finchley, N2

Visited 30/04/25 Two out of four hand pumps dispensing, providing the N2 Brew a collaboration between the pub and their brewery owner and the McMullens AK Original Mild which was a nice pint. Keg options were Guinness, Amstel, Madri, Aspall cider, Cruz, and three beers from a brewery that I didn’t know called Rivertown, a Pilsner called Elysian and the SIPA and the Daze, a hazy pale. As Tris notes below you really aren’t going to stumble upon this one which is a rare and pleasant experience in Greater London. Quite a small bare boarded venue with the bar counter opposite the entrance with a small patterned tiled skirt in front thereof. Quite a bit of the seating in here is provided by velvet banquettes around three sections of the wall with regular tables and chairs otherwise. Lots of framed photos on the upper part of the walls. There was a very jazzy soundtrack here on my visit and the small beer garden to the left of the pub was accessed off the left end of the bar counter. Was nicely shaped and hence popular on my early evening visit on this super sunny last day of April. Definitely the highlight of my N2 visit.

This started life as a bakehouse, becoming a brewhouse around 1800; is the building really that old? To say that this is a backstreet pub is an understatement as you certainly won’t find it by accident. I passed it in mid-2015 to find a dowdy locals’ pub, with an ugly Sky Sports banner flapping away, always a bad sign. The pub was refitted in the autumn of 2022 (probably by Eamon E, given his glowing encomium), under the stewardship of McMullen. The interior is rather smart (see EE’s photo and weblink), with an obvious makeover giving us something traditional, a little like a take on a village pub, with boarded floor, mid grey colour scheme, traditional furniture with fawn buckskin banquette, brewers’ mirrors, framed pictures of the area from yesteryear and no obvious sign of any TVs; customers were more affluent locals with some rather attractive women. On my Friday evening visit, there was an unused pump, then McMullen Original Mild, Rivertown Ivel and McMullen IPA, £2.70 a half, served by a very friendly barmaid though it wasn’t tiptop, possibly the result of a warm cellar, given the weather. This is a rather decent little pub – certainly by Finchley standards – probably unused by the more mainstream customers following a service at neighbouring Finchley Crematorium, likewise acolytes of the Five Bells.

Facebook page of The Windsor Castle - www.facebook.com

Official site of The Windsor Castle - www.windsorcastlen2.com

Facebook page of The Windsor Castle - www.facebook.com

Official site of The Windsor Castle - www.windsorcastlen2.com