The Fox & Hounds, Egham

Very much the country feel here, with horses clip-clopping down the road beyond the tables on the lawn outside. Superb pints of Hogs Back TEA. Light wood floor & large windows lend an airy feel to the bar, good looking blackboard menu but restaurant prices. Felt I should have ordered plums to make my manc accent more acceptable round here, but no-one was looking down their nose at us. Good pub.

Official site of The Fox & Hounds - thefoxandhoundsrestaurant.com

Official site of The Fox & Hounds - thefoxandhoundsrestaurant.com

The Fox and Hounds Restaurant and Bar (as they call themselves) is situated by the Bishopsgate entrance to Windsor Great Park in the village of Englefield Green. Apparently the building has existed as a pub since around 1790, not that you get any feeling or indication of age, especially inside. Now under private ownership it underwent some four months of refurbishment. A nice looking building from the outside, internally it is the standard Gastro pub restaurant set up and décor. On entering, there is a bar section with comfy leather seating and wooden tables and then behind is the larger silver service restaurant. The interior throughout is the usual modern, sterile, characterless, but very clean Gastro pub décor, And especially the toilets, which are more aligned to what you would be likely to find in a five star Michelin restaurant than a traditional pub. One good feature of this place is the outside drinking area to the front. Again, completely modern and recently done, a fairly large flag stone area with plenty of wooden tables under large umbrellas. Overall definitely more of a restaurant than a pub, but fortunately the bar section and the outside area is set up for people who only want to drink, and as well as the usual Lager offerings there are two sets of three handpumps on the bar top area providing three ales. These were Sharps Doombar, Brakspears Bitter and Guardsman from the local Windsor and Eton microbrewery. And both the Doombar and Guardsman were well kept pints. So in conclusion, a long way from a traditional pub, and more a restaurant focussing on food sales. But does have the benefit of a proper bar area and a very good external space which is ideal for an alfresco pint on a good weather day, when walking or cycling the Great park.