The Castle, Walthamstow, E17

A sizable backstreet corner pub, Its a single room with plenty of seating which were all full up with young family's complete with children and pushchairs, oh dear. It is very gastro but a half decent beer selection helped, Purity Mad Goose, ELB Night Watchman and Darkstar Hophead. Its Ok for a beer here but I'm not likely to rush back too soon.

Only a five minute or so walk from the King William 1V and on route to Walthamstow village, so not to be missed. The pub was quiet on our Monday afternoon mini crawl, which was to be expected. This large corner pub was very inviting on approach and once through the doors, we headed to the facing bar, which had a dark blue painted front and a pine counter. I was pleased to see they had four handpumps in operation, so we went for the ELB Foundation Bitter and the New River Brewery London Tap. Both beers were in great shape and tasted superb, so all in all another bonus pub to Walthamstow.

The Castle is a decent looking pub that is situated in the posh part of Walthamstow. Once inside there is a single L shaped room with the bar facing,the room is bare boarded,the seating is normal tables and chairs to the front and leather settees to the rear right. There were three real ales on the bar,i had a drink of Dark Star Hop head which was a very nice drink,the other beers were Hackney american Pale Ale and ELB Foundation Bitter. Decent background music was playing and board games are available,food is also available. I quite liked here even though it is a gastro type pub. Pub visited 21/3/2015

Official site of The Castle - www.thecastlee17.com

Official site of The Castle - www.thecastlee17.com

This place is essentially unchanged since the previous reviewer’s visit, and doesn’t need describing again by me. When I was in at Wednesday lunchtime they had on Sambrook Wandle (£3.60 a pint), Jennings Cumberland, Timothy Taylor Landlord, and Adnam’s Broadside. One pump was unclipped, and a sixth offered mulled wine at £2, which was presumably an advert for the contents of the adjacent cauldron. Despite menus on the outside wall and chalkboards inside the pub offering a full range of dishes, the only food available at lunchtime was some parsnip soup and a stew of some kind. It’s definitely child friendly. When I was in the pub was suffering from an infestation of noisy pre-walking age infants. One the one hand it’s good to see children being inculcated into the pub experience at an early age as it will obviously lead them to be more rounded individuals as they grow up, but on the other it doesn’t offer the quiet and relaxing pint that I prefer. But you can’t blame pubs for grabbing any business they can get to ensure their survival. Unlike most pubs, it may become a more relaxing place in the evenings. My pint of Wandle was in good nick though.

From the outside the Castle is a grand Victorian pub situated on an imposing corner plot at the junction of Grosvenor Rise and Eden Road, tucked away behind Walthamstow Village. Internally it has gone through several incarnations over the last 5 to 7 years as various owners tried to position it and get advantage from the continuing gentrification of the Walthamstow Village and surrounding area. Previous makeovers gave the impression of being done with minimal cost but not this last one that has the Castle being firmly positioned as a Gastro pub. In fact all the advertising, including the information board outside the pub promotes the Castle as “Walthamstow’s first gastro pub”. Whether this current incarnation and interior in particular appeals, will be down to personal taste. For my personal taste I find these minimal gastro interiors, (stripped wooden floors, sober tables, liberal use of Farrow & Ball pastel paint colours, loaded bookshelves to try and give the place some character, e.t.c.) all a bit sterile and bland. And combined that with the fact that internally, The Castle is one large space with a high ceiling around the central bar area which, when it is not full of people, as it was not on my late evening visit, cuts a pretty boring and frankly depressing atmosphere. It definitely leads on food, but as we were only here for the beer and you will be better off googling restaurant review sites for how this place performs as a ‘child friendly restaurant’ and it certainly seems to polarise opinions. It really depends whether you are prepared to sit in a pub, order food and drinks at the bar and pay restaurant prices for the privilege. With the very good local restaurants of Eat17 and The Village Kitchen a short walk away on Orford road, I can’t see myself doing that in the near future. But on the beer front, things have improved and the large wood beamed bar top now supports six real ale pumps which were dispensing TT Landlord, Hook Norton Hooky, Spitfire, London Pride and Brains Reverend James with one reversed, a solid enough if not overly exciting line-up. And here again, with the nearby Nags Head and The Village pubs providing local ales from the increasing number of East London Micro Breweries you just feel The Castle is missing a trick by going with the safe options. But my pint of Reverend James was perfectly fine. The refurb has also provided a converted designer beer garden at the back but didn’t get a chance to look at this on our late evening visit. My first visit to the Castle in this current incarnation for an evening pint had me a bit underwhelmed by the experience, but there’s enough here to have me visit again when back in the Village area. This is a fine Victorian building exterior and I hope it survives as a pub for that reason alone.