The Windmill (JD Wetherspoon), Stansted Mountfitchet

The Windmill is the Wetherspoons offering airside at Stansted. The long bar runs down the left-hand wall and open plan seating is found throughout. An open kitchen is located at the rear and steps to the right rear lead up to a second bar where there is a TV. Six Nations Flags were on display so I imagine the rugby was shown during the competition. A premium and standard keg range is available, and I counted twelve hand pumps on the downstairs bar and five more upstairs. I opted for a Stella which was £5.05. The standard JDW food menu is available; the burgers start at £9.70. I found the service to be very friendly, but none of the staff could explain how the centrepiece in the centre of the pub resembles a Windmill. Answers on a postcard please! I rated this as the second-best airside drinking venue out of the five available.

A standard airport pub, Ten handpumps all featuring the usual standard beers as mentioned by quinno below, I didn't spot anything guest wise of any interest so went for a bottle of Brewdog Dead Pony Club. Always likely to be rammed due to the captive audience and serves it's purpose.

Airport JDW (post-security) and a brave attempt to have a go at something interesting in a constrained building. The long, curvy bar and huge inverted brick chimney-looking thing (windmill-related, presumably?) add a bit of character and made the brief stop-off a little more interesting than anticipated. Ten pumps mainly bearing standards - GK OSH/IPA, Hobgoblin, Doom Bar with a couple of more interesting ones; Otter Xmas ale, Marstons Xmas Pud (off) and Adnams Broadside (in decent nick) which was a respectable £3.05 (sans CAMRA 50p discount); inflated prices compared to the regular JDW but certainly better than the nearby competition! For an airport bar this was pretty fair, in context.