The Windmill, Mitcham

One of the few surviving pubs in Mitcham, this is a decent community boozer stood opposite the Westernmost part of Mitcham Common. The pub has a simple layout, opened out from a former multiple room format to create a lop-sided U-shaped room with the servery centrally positioned along the rear wall. The bar has a grey painted tongue and groove counter and fairly plain shelving on the bar back. Banquette seating extends around much of the perimeter, supported by chairs and low stools, with a popular window bay to the front of the pub looking like the best place to bag a seat. I noticed a TV screen on the wall here, although this had been switched off in favour of a funk and rock soundtrack. A couple of stained glass windows to the front offer a glimpse of the interior’s original design, but elsewhere there’s a lot of grey paint, matching low tongue and groove wood panelling and exposed stonework, which is all a bit too bland and nondescript to leave much of an impression. The right-hand side extends a bit further back, where you can find a juke box, slot machine and another disused TV screen, whilst to the left of the bar there’s a dartboard and a few random bits of breweriana on display. A beer garden to one side of the pub seemed like it could be okay, with views across to the Common, but I arrived in a torrential rainstorm and was soaked to the skin, so appreciating the garden was low on my list of priorities. The pub has made it into the latest edition of the Good Beer Guide and has three handpulls, although only one of these was in operation, dispensing a very good pint of Fullers London Pride for £4.20. The barmaid was friendly, and the locals seemed like a nice bunch too, with no-one complaining about the small stream that started running across the floor after I’d hung my coat up to dry. I thought this was a decent enough pub that serves the local community well and certainly knows how to keep its beer. The place felt a little too plain and empty to really spark the imagination and the sole option of London Pride means it will have limited appeal to those looking for rarer brews, but it does what it does pretty well, and I’d be happy enough stopping off again some time.

This pub hasn't changed a lot since my previous visit. It no longer appears to be a Young's pub, and I saw no clue as to whether it was in the clutches of a pubco. One feature I somehow failed to note last time is the pair of bow windows with attractive glazing featuring, most appropriately, windmills. One less usually seen internal pub feature was the stone-clad wall on the right. As you would expect, there were England flags prominently displayed, with smaller flags of the other countries represented at Euro 2020. There are three handpumps - one was unclipped, another had a clip reversed, and the third was dispensing Black Sheep Bitter at £3.80 a pint. There was an A4 sheet on the bar counter advertising toasties at £2.50 a pop - the cheese and ham version was just what I fancied, and came with some crisps. At these prices - £3.70 change from a tenner for a pint and sarny - one could forget that you're in London for a moment. Cash payment seemed to be preferred to a card. This is clearly still a locals' pub, and with the decent beer, cheap snacks, and friendly landlady it is worth a return visit at some stage.

The Windmill is a nice looking stand alone pub that is on the edge of Mitcham commom. Once inside the pub had one room that i noticed and this room was quite nice with an olde world feel to it with a beamed ceiling and comfortable bench seating and carpets throughout. There were three real ales on the bar i had a drink of Youngs bitter and this was a very nice drink the other beers were Shepherd Neame Spitfire and GK IPA. I was quite happy having a drink in this pub. Pub visited 7/1/2006