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.

This pub is for airline passengers only.

One of the better airport Spoons and always quite busy. The big downside to this Spoons is their very inflated airport prices. We paid £3.40 for a pint of London Pride, also the food prices are nearly double.

This is a large, open-plan, air-side bar full of tourists sinking their last pint on English soil before jetting off to more exotic climes. The open layout means that there is room for stacks of seating, yet somehow the place always seems to be bursting at the seams and finding somewhere to sit is no mean feat.I was here recently during the Brazil vs. Portugal World Cup match, which could be viewed from one of several TV screens dotted around the place. There were 5 ales on including a couple of usual suspects and some guests, of which I tried the Oakham JHB (£2.85), usually a pretty reliable choice, but a little flat and uninspiring here. Service was friendly and very efficient in spite of the ineffective queuing system that the punters waiting at the bar had created all by themselves.There aren't many places to choose from in Stansted, so this is probably your best bet for a decent pre-flight pint.