The Windsor Trooper, Windsor

Official site of The Windsor Trooper - www.thewindsortrooper.com

Official site of The Windsor Trooper - www.thewindsortrooper.com

On my last review of this pub (not on this site I hasten to add), I remarked how I was surprised that the Trooper had not been in the Good Beer Guide since 2008. I'm glad to report that it returned in 2021 and remained in the most recent 2022 edition. This is still a cosy and traditional single-bar pub, where you are guaranteed a friendly welcome. Accommodation is also available and I for one would certainly be looking to spend a night here if I was looking for a room in Windsor. I can imagine that it would be a great place to sit back and relax for the evening knowing that your bed was only a short stroll away. Adnams Bitter & Oakham Citra are still the regular beers on here. There were just 2 guest beers on this occasion and they were also from Adnams - Broadside & Old Ale. The cider range has also reduced from 12 on my January 2020 visit to 7 this time - Snail's Bank Appley Dapply, Damson in a Dress, Pineapple & Pink Grapefruit Cider & Very Perry & Gwynt y Ddraig Farmhouse Scrumpy, Black Dragon & Fiery Fox. Worthy of note for CAMRA members is that they also accept CAMRA 50p off vouchers for a pint on both the ales and the ciders. I'd certainly advise a stroll down to the Windsor Trooper, taking in A Hoppy Place on the way. Sadly for us, A Hoppy Place closes on a Monday and we were deprived a visit there.

A bit of a walk from the station or castle, this is a nice, traditionally styled pub on the fringes of the town centre. You enter into a nice bare boarded, L-shaped room with some carpeted seating spaces around the perimeter. The room is well furnished, with lots of comfortable seating options available including some very long, padded pews, chunky settles and a few hard-backed benches, all ably supported by typical pub chairs. There are half-panelled walls with plain uppers which have been decorated with a wide variety of breweriana including framed pump clips, brewery mirrors and old advertisements. The servery is opposite the front door and has a nice timber fronted counter and matching bar back. A beer board stands at the right-hand end of the counter, listing the various draught ale options and some high shelves have been filled with a very impressive beer bottle collection. The entrance porch is of particular interest, bearing an attractive etched glass pane for ‘W. Butler & Co’, although this is unlikely to be an original feature of the pub, as this brewery operated almost exclusively out of the West Midlands and Shropshire. A brick fireplace to the right has a TV screen above it which was showing muted coverage of Wimbledon whilst some decent Motown tunes played at a modest volume in the background. A passage to the left of the bar leads into a split-level rear conservatory space with a quarry stone floor and formally arranged tables and chairs, giving it a bit of a dining room feel. This in turn leads out to a beer garden which seemed very popular judging by the number of people passing through the pub, but I didn’t get around to checking it out for myself. On the bar, they had four cask ales available including their two house beers – Adnams Southwold Bitter and Oakham Citra – plus Nethergate Eon’s Milk Stout and Hook Norton Old Hooky as guests. The Citra was absolutely spot-on and quite easily the best kept pint I had on my crawl around Windsor. I really liked what they’ve done to this place, having given it a relatively recent makeover that emphasises a traditional pub feel without alienating younger drinkers. It gives the pub a broad appeal that combines with a good, well-kept selection of beers to create a bit of a winning combination in my books. Wasn’t expecting much from this place, but it was the arguable highlight of my evening crawling around Windsor.

Quite an informal front area with a mixture of seating that includes sofas. A conservatory at the back has more seating and a pool table. 3 real ales and food served.