The George, Windsor

I was fairly sure I'd visited the George many years back. But having set foot inside again last night, I'm now not so sure! These days, it is owned by Windsor & Eton Brewery and was stocking the exact same cask ale range as its Brewery Tap over the river - Mandarin, Knight of the Garter, Conqueror, Windsor Knot, Guardsman & Father Thames. As at the brewery, Sandford Orchards cider is served, albeit carbonated. Having tried the Father Thames in the Taproom, I ordered the Windsor Knot here. It was a more enjoyable drink in much more traditional surroundings than the Taproom. Staff were friendly and welcoming and the pub is well suited for both groups and solo drinkers. CAMRA discounts are offered (20p/pint). I'm still not sure if I'd been here before. But I quite enjoyed the atmosphere in this pub and it was quite a nice place to sup my final drink before Christmas this year.

This pub has an excellent location by virtue of being one of the first buildings you see when you cross the river from Windsor into Eton, so it’s understandable why the local Windsor & Eton brewery decided to make this their first venture into pub management. Given the prominent street corner location, I was a little surprised to find that the interior is a fairly modest affair, with the entrance taking you into a compact main bar area. The servery occupies the rear right corner of the room and has a nice L-shaped, dark wood counter with matching bar back and canopy, broken at the corner by a large pillar which suggests there would once have been some form of partitioning, with the bar serving two or more rooms in the past. The room has exposed floorboards and plain painted walls, with minimal décor – the result of W&E’s refurbishment of the pub. There are some fairly long tables down the right-hand side of the room, served by rows of benches, with a more varied mix of seating options elsewhere. A door to the left, past the end of the bar, leads out to a sizable decked beer garden, where pretty much all of the customers could be found on a warm midweek evening. This large space has been well furnished with luxury garden chairs, wooden benches, some hard bench booths and drinking ledges served by bar stools, weirdly making it more comfortable than much of the pub’s interior. Plenty of these seats are under shelters and an abundance of hanging baskets and potted plants help brighten the space up and make it feel like a proper garden. There is also an outbuilding here, called The Hop House, which is available for private functions. A tidy row of hand pumps saw four W&E brews available, several of which were double clipped, suggesting a wider range might be expected once all the pandemic restrictions have been lifted. The options on this visit were Windsor Knot, Conqueror, Knight of the Garter and Eton Boatman. A friendly barman took my order as I passed the bar, and served up a pint of the latter, which a poor waitress then had to deliver to me, having no idea where I’d gone to sit! Thankfully, she found me in the sprawling beer garden, and I was able to enjoy a well-kept pint, albeit perhaps not one of the best beers from this particular brewery. I think my main enjoyment on this visit came from being able to take advantage of the pub’s fine garden, which is an unquestionable asset. It was also good to try some locally brewed beer, served to me by friendly, welcoming staff and despite some reservations about the plain interior, I left feeling favourably about this place and can well imagine taking friends or family here.

A thoroughly welcoming pub and hotel situated just across the bridge from Windsor into neighbouring Eton. A corner fireplace gave immediate good cheer on a cold afternoon and both the barman and a clutch of locals were sociable and inviting. The main room is boarded and has a solid looking beamed ceiling, another old inglenook fireplace adjoining the bar looked to be unused sadly. A small side area is a bit like a snug although not entirely separate, this has sofas and armchairs. There is however a grandfather clock, various framed prints, some being of classic old portraits and pleasingly regular seating including some nice high backed pews. Six pumps dispense Windsor and Eton beers, Parklife, Knight of the Garter, Canberra, Guardsman and Mandarin..an Xmas ale and Conqueror. Thirds tray available for £3.80. Food served, a bit expensive but no further comment as not sampled. This is a fine pub indeed, it was just the ticket on a cold and dull afternoon, highly recommended.

As a fan of W&E beers I was looking forward to seeing what this one was like. I got here around 12:30 and it was mainly taken up by what looked like office groups eating and drinking. It's a long room with the bar on the left as you enter, a small snug away from the bar and a terrace / garden outside. Considering it looks quite large from the outside it struck me as being quite small inside. A table of office types near me had ordered food and it looked like a mountain of it on each plate. I didn't stay long enough to see whether they managed to finish it all! As noted below, the bar has six hand pumps which on my visit had Thwaites Wainwright and five W&E beers (Conqueror, Windsor Knot, Guardsman, 882 Seattle Porter and Mandarin). I went for the Mandarin (£3.80) and Conqueror (£3.90). Both tried were in good nick but the Mandarin was the better of the two. I thought overall it was a bit too food orientated but it's definitely worth a look.