The Windsor Castle, Carshalton

Decent enough pub bordering on a proper boozer, adequately described below. Unfortunately my pint was trending toward end of barrel status, that aside , an ok place.

Slightly molested old two room local’s boozer on a junction (with no quarter given to pedestrians, as I discovered) with some nice glazed tiled frontage. Looks to have been refitted 30 years back and has been left to gently age a cosy interior with padded banquette seating, wood panelling, cream and maroon colour scheme. Function room available. Football on the telly with a few geezer types chatting about the usual stuff and a fairly good atmosphere prevailed. Three ales on, hidden at the far end of the bar and an oddball selection - 2x St Austell and Long Man. My St Austell Proper Job was in good shape. For those which enjoy a traditional boozer, this is one for you – I liked it. 7.5

Investigated the beerfest Sat, pretty good, printed selection listed 27 ales (I think). Stills were set up in the large (I want to say ‘shed', but it's rather more substantial than that, oh sod it…) ‘shed' across the little courtyard, and also in the cellar of the main bar where I pitied the staff the trek downstairs for each indoor order. Beers were well-priced, averaging ~£2.30. Choose your table in the bar, the paved outdoor area, the shed, or up in the lawned garden. The pub is to come under Shepherd Neame control so presumably the ale range will be standardised with SN brands, & the prices will go up. 28 April 2008 Dartmoor Best, Pride, Harveys Best, Youngs Special, Wadworth Horizon, Robinsons Dissy Blonde (I don't have any reversed ‘z's on my keyboard), the latter was beer of the week on offer at £2 ppint. Big horseshoe bar, carpetted, bench settle surrounds and standard dark wood tables/chairs. Wood panelling to rear around victorian style fireplace (gas effect) and beyond this a nice little wood panelled dining area, not orig build but looks good and, with net curtains and wall paintings for sale, it very much evokes a country inn feel, specials board showed mains at £8-12. There must be a function room to the other side as they were catering for a funeral party on the day of my visit.

This is a large pub with attractive green external tiling, located on a busy junction. Some etched glass also remains and plenty of dark wood panelling but the interior has been pretty well knocked through into one large space but with a small side room one end. The bar is in the middle bit of the pub, the room then winds around behind at the right hand end whereas the other side extends along a fair way until you reach the aforementioned side room. Comfortable with regular style seating, carpeted and with a couple of slightly raised areas, this feels like a proper pub. There are a couple of framed CAMRA awards over a fireplace and a lot of plates mounted on a high shelf, stone jars sit above the bar gantry. A few bits of artwork for sale and unusually framed collections of beer mats attesting to the pub's guest ale policy despite now seeming to be a Shepherd Neame outlet. Entering through the main door the SN pumps are in front of you, on this occasion Kent's Best, Spitfire and Masterbrew but at the return end of the bar there are three more handpumps so it is worth taking your time and checking them. Saturday's visit had Hop Back Summer Lightning, Brain's Rev James and rather unfortunately Long Man Best Bitter turned around. Food is served, regular menus unseen but the specials board had stuffed lamb hearts in rich gravy (£9.50), mustard beef and ale casserole (£10.50). The small side roomed looked like a dining area and there seemed to be a serving hatch of sorts in there. A couple of TVs were showing the racing, there is also a dartboard, unusually if not uniquely set on a secondary "door" that folds out across the proper door to the outside drinking area. A sign on the outer door warns the unwary to take care! This is a decent pub with a warm atmosphere that I would gladly return to.

The Windsor Castle is a U shaped pub with the trappings of Shepherd Neame ownership with Kent’s Best, Whitstable Bay and Spitfire being available from the bar. Thankfully there are three more hand pumps that were drawing Doom Bar, Harvey’s Best and Westerham’s British Bulldog. The usual draught suspects are all present, and I’m not talking about the limited SN choice. To complement the seating around the bar there is another seating area at the rear along with a dining area. I didn’t spot any televisions and I can’t remember there being any background music, but live jazz was advertised for every third Wednesday of the month. On the food front there is an a la carte menu, bar food menu and specials menu. I didn’t see any of these menus during my Friday evening visit just over a month ago, but I’d imagine the price varies from cheap to not so. I did manage to note the kitchen opening hours which were from noon until 14:00 Monday through to Saturday and from 19:00 until 21:00 Tuesday through to Saturday. There is also a carvery on Sundays that takes place from noon until 16:00. There was a good sized local crowd in here that generated a decent atmosphere and I would pop in again if passing.