The Windsor Castle, Carshalton

The Windsor Castle is a U shaped pub with the trappings of Shepherd Neame ownership with Kent’s Best, Whitstable Bay and Spitfire being available from the bar. Thankfully there are three more hand pumps that were drawing Doom Bar, Harvey’s Best and Westerham’s British Bulldog. The usual draught suspects are all present, and I’m not talking about the limited SN choice. To complement the seating around the bar there is another seating area at the rear along with a dining area. I didn’t spot any televisions and I can’t remember there being any background music, but live jazz was advertised for every third Wednesday of the month. On the food front there is an a la carte menu, bar food menu and specials menu. I didn’t see any of these menus during my Friday evening visit just over a month ago, but I’d imagine the price varies from cheap to not so. I did manage to note the kitchen opening hours which were from noon until 14:00 Monday through to Saturday and from 19:00 until 21:00 Tuesday through to Saturday. There is also a carvery on Sundays that takes place from noon until 16:00. There was a good sized local crowd in here that generated a decent atmosphere and I would pop in again if passing.

I liked the exterior glazed tiling,which gives the building character.I seem to recall that this was indeed a Charrington's house.The road junction on which it sits is potentially quite lethal if making a bee line for the front door,less haste more speed.There have been some excellent discriptions of the interior,so my only note would be that there are six handpumps,three featuring Shep's and three guests from national real ale brands on my brief pub crawl visit.I am not sure that would give me sufficient incentive to seek the pub out again.

This is a large pub on a busy junction, close to Carshalton Beeches station and a short walk from Carshalton Ponds. There is plenty of evidence of a previous, multiple room layout, but now the partitioning walls have been taken down leaving a large room which still retains a feel of being divided into distinct individual areas. The interior is quite traditional, being carpeted and with some smart leather-backed banquettes. A raised area in one corner provides some extra seating options, although most punters were sat along the long bar counter on my visit. To the left, there is more seating and this area seems to be more suited to diners given its distance from the bar. There were some framed pump clip and beer mat collections hanging from the walls which I thought looked really good and were a bit different from the usual pump clip collections seen in other pubs. Blackboards detailed the menu with most main meals costing between £9-£11. Live music was being promoted on a number of posters and despite having a large TV screen on the wall, it was tuned to Magic Radio, although the music couldn't be heard over the general chatter in the bar. Shep's beer tends to dominate in here, although there is a good guest ale policy as well. However, on my recent visit, the standards of Spitfire, Bishop's Finger and Kent's Best were supplemented by two other regulars in the shape of Sharp's Doom Bar and Harvey's Best with just 1648 Saint George as an alternative. I tried a pint of the Saint George which wasn't the most inspiring pint I've ever had. The barman wasn't very welcoming and seemed to be a little begrudging when serving me. Whilst this isn't the best pub in Carshalton, it is a pretty solid choice for a decent pint in a well run pub. The service could certainly do with a bit of improvement but it wouldn't be enough to put me off from returning again.

This is a very prominent tiled corner pub a few minutes stroll down the oad from Carshalton Beeches station situated at. Busy set of traffic lights. Inside this pub is quite pleasant but the staff behind the bar didn't give the feeling of a warm welcome. The six les on were Shsrps DoomBar, Harveys Best, arundel Sussex Gold, Shepheard Neame Kents Best, Late Red and Bishops Finge. however the Late Red and Bishops finger we had between us tasted exactly the same so we think the Late Red was actually Bishops finger. Maybe the staff were still suffering from New Years eve but glad we only ordered halves and soon moved on.

Randomness Guide to London - Windsor Castle entry

Randomness Guide to London - Windsor Castle entry

This Windsor Castle is an attractive looking corner site pub with some attractive looking brewery tiling outside (not sure which one – Charrington’s possibly?). Inside it’s now been knocked into one room of course. The main door leads into an entranceway, with an internal door on the right leading into the bar. At one time there would have been another door on the left leading to a separate room. Anyway, there’s nothing pretentious about this pub, although the tables in the bar area at the back and to the left of the room were set for diners (although at 3.30PM there was nobody using them. The clientele on a Saturday afternoon were clearly local regulars, with seven or eight chaps sitting on stools at the bar. The TV on the wall was showing the Sky Sports latest footy scores channel (but muted) until the regulars decided that they wanted to see and hear the racing. As you would expect, the games and fruit machines are all present. It’s carpeted throughout, with banquette seating plus normal tables and small stools. There were six ales on – Shepherd Neame’s Kent’s Best, Spitfire and Earlybird; plus Doom Bar, Tribute and Harvey’s Best. I didn’t see any printed food menus, but the “restaurant carvery menu” was on a chalkboard advertising such delicacies as Beef Stroganoff for £10.50 and a seriously hefty mixed grill for £13.95. A bit foody then, but I didn’t eat there or see any of the food being eaten by others. Essentially, as far as I can tell, this is a pretty basic, but comfortable, locals’ pub. Nothing wrong with that. Six ales on is a plus. This is yet another pub I would be happy to return to, probably combined with one or two other of Carshalton’s better pubs.