Windsor Castle, Lye, Stourbridge

Official site of Windsor Castle - www.windsorcastleinn.co.uk

Official site of Windsor Castle - www.windsorcastleinn.co.uk

Between 2004 and 2015, this large pub on the main road through Lye was the brewery tap for the Sadler's Brewery, which operated from an adjacent outbuilding until moving to a new premises close to the train station. Despite this demotion of sorts, the pub still showcases the brewery's wares and there was an extensive range of Sadler's beers available on my Saturday night visit, all detailed on a helpful blackboard to the side of the bar. The options on this occasion were Mud City Stout, Hop Bomb, Mellow Yellow, IPA, Worcester Sorcerer, Helihopper, Peaky Blinder and Gladstone, from which I decided to try the Mellow Yellow, which came in at £3.40 a pint and was in very good shape, but not really one of my favourite Sadler's beers. The pub is very different to the traditional brewery taps that you can find across the Black Country, having been thoroughly refurbished to create a feel that is closer to gastro pub than proper boozer. You enter into a tile floored corridor with a number of seating areas off to either side. Each of these areas has plenty of pew and chair seating and I was surprised to find pretty much everyone in them was eating. The walls have been painted in neutral colours and are hop lined in places with various black and white photos, decorative mirrors and other such staple items of decor on show. The corridor emerges into the rear bar area with the servery along the back wall. This is a spacious flagstone floor space with high tables and chairs dotted around plus a drinking ledge under the front window. A TV screen was showing muted coverage of The Voice, which must be the most pointless use of a TV imaginable. The bar has a nice counter and pleasant hop-lined bar back with the aforementioned drinks boards to the left and an upright piano to the right under a few CAMRA awards. From here you can move through again to another room on the right hand side of the pub, set on a slightly lower level in a bare boarded space. This room had a lot of standard seating and very plain decor, with an almost echoey feel to it, which meant it was the least popular spot in the pub. I was a little surprised with this place, which turned out to be very different to what I'd had in mind. For a pub where arguably the beer is the main draw, the place didn't feel particularly well set up for drinkers, although the multiple room layout means it's probably possible to find somewhere to escape the diners at most times. With the new dedicated brewery bar just a short walk away and the fine beer range in the Shovel just up the road, this is no longer the essential stop off it once was, but it remains a great showcase for a good brewery and an integral part of the area's pub scene.

First off, I never knew this was here. 25 years ago, I had my first curries at the Balti house over the road and never noticed this pub - or its subsequent change into a brewery tap house! For Xmas, I had a Virgin red letter day brewery tour voucher for this place and headed off on the train (station over the road) to attend. The tour is excellent - very informative, and entertaining and you get a superb lunch afterwards. Best Ploughmans I have ever had. And you get to taste the beers - I tried the peaky blinder (a black IPA) and the Worcesertshire Sourcery - both were excellent. Enjoyed the day and will be back as a more regular pint drinker next time.

For a brewery tap I found this place rather odd as although it has a bar with ten pumps and seven Sadler's beers, apart from some stools at the bar and a few tall tables there is nowhere to sit and drink. All the tables in the small rooms off the bar area seemed to be set out for dining with knives and forks wrapped in serviettes placed on them. I couldn't get to see what the three guest ales were as there was a group of three people sitting at the bar, but I did see that one of them was Holden's Scary Face. I went for two Sadler's beers the Hop Bomb (£3.40) and Mud City Stout (£3.70) both of which were in superb condition but rather expensive for the West Midlands. I ended up sitting by one of the tables with cutlery and then noticed one that had nothing on it so moved there. It's worth coming here for the beer alone, but it would be more drinker friendly if they used numbered tables or gave out a wooden spoon with a number on for the food orders.

Pub is well described below , its a bit bland inside but makes up for it by the selection of ales available inside , the whole Sadlers range plus seasonals all brewed around the back in what appears to be a large double garage .