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Detail Pages
Windsor Castle, NW1
NW1
NW1 4SH
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 6 of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Bucking Fastard left this review about Windsor Castle
The best part of the pub is the elegant curved frontage with a tiny first floor balcony.It stands out in the area.Very close to Lords so will get busy at the end of play,the interior had tables moved to the side to accomodate vertical drinking.However the interior is quite bleak,nothing of interest and a raised rear lounge and dining room.There is an awning above a street level space but the adjacent road is very busy.
Just two ales offered Windsor & Eton Windsor Knot and their Kellerbier real lager (Nasty sweet brew,no lager character,NBSS 2).
There are better pubs close by ,yet it does well from peddling substandard real ale to people who are never going to be regulars.Avoid.
On 21st August 2022
- rating: 5
[User has posted 2727 recommendations about 2727 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Delboy 20 left this review about Windsor Castle
Odd looking pub with a good selection of beers. The service was very friendly and the beer was good. I would happily call in again.
On 7th June 2018
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 1656 recommendations about 1556 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Tris C left this review about Windsor Castle
This is a Georgian Grade II-listed pub, designed by none other than the architect John Nash in his distinctive Regency style, with a crenelated parapet and curved frontage to emphasise the castle theme; it’s certainly distinctive and works rather well. I’ve only been here once before, a few days before the outbreak of the gulf war – that’s the first Gulf War of February 1991, so my memory of the place is a bit hazy after a gap of 27 years.
It’s a fairly long narrow pub inside with bar running along most of the right side with a bare boarded floor, some part t ‘n’ g dark wood panelling with white walls and conventional furniture. To the rear, there are steps up to a further lounge bar and dining room; a doorway leads down to inadequate lavatories, devoid of paper at just 5.30 pm – do the staff not check their facilities? A TV was showing the cricket with the sound down – could be worse – and the customer base is almost exclusively derived from students drawn from the neighbouring London Business School; I felt rather old.
Ales: an unused pump, Gipsy Hill’s Beatnik and Lemondrop & Benali (whatever that is) and Windsor & Eton’s Windsor Knot at a pricey £2.50 a half and decent.
This pub is ok though gets rammed with raucous students later in the evening and has a Thursday to Saturday 12 pm* licence. An interesting exterior belies an otherwise indifferent experience, so I don’t envisage a return visit – the Volunteer down the road is a better bet.
*Note to pub: 12 pm is lunchtime not midnight.
On 27th January 2018
- rating: 5
[User has posted 1985 recommendations about 1951 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about Windsor Castle
One of central London’s most distinctive pub exteriors, fashioned as a turret and painted blue and white meaning an unusual and attractive curved frontage. Inside is a surprisingly small rectangular bar with an upstairs dining room and lounge, plus a fake library-style snug underneath the stairs. Sports TV on at a muted volume, along with some fairly awful piped music. Five pumps at the bar with three on; West Berks Maggs Mild (very good shape), Pride and Truman Zephyr (good nick) served up by a very friendly barmaid. A decent selection of ales in good nick, a laid-back atmosphere and an idiosyncratic feel makes this one worth a detour to sample.
On 22nd March 2016
- rating: 7
[User has posted 5089 recommendations about 5072 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about Windsor Castle
There was a good ale selection on here, with London Pride, Pedigree, Sambrook's Junction, Gipsy Hill Beatnik (£2.20 a half) and St Austell Big Job available. According to the guv'nor, the latter ale is a stonking 7.4% version of Proper Job. I know someone who would probably have gone for that, but, lightweight that I am, I bottled it as it were.There wasn't a menu on my table, but there were condiments on the tables, and a dining room and lounge was advertised upstairs, so clearly food is available - or at least it was when I dropped in Wednesday lunchtime.
Inside it's very pub-like, which is of course a good thing. Furnishings are just settles and normal tables and chairs; there's a large mirror on one of the walls; an attractive fireplace on the left; and the latticed bay window is an attractive feature. The exterior is quite striking, with the pub designed to look like a castle turret, complete with mock fortifications on the parapet.
It's hard to put your finger on what it needs for a pub to have a pub feel - but this one's got it for me. I liked this one. I also appreciated the guv'nor taking the trouble to warn me about the ABV of the St Austell Big Job.
On 1st August 2015
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about Windsor Castle
Distinctive pub, with bold blue stripes on the curved facade and castellations at the top. Despite the narrow frontage, it retains two front doors (although only pair seemed to be in regular use). The small, 'L'-shaped bar area is rather cramped, but there are four more tables on the rear landing (by the kitchen serving hatch) and if you keep going up you will find a spacious front lounge. Also has some benches out on the pavement. Four of five handpumps in operations, offering Pride, ESB, Landlord and Butcombe Bitter (£3.50, in good form, and served in the right glass). Overall, appeared busier than most other pubs in the area at a quiet time of day, so that's probably a good sign.
On 16th January 2012
- rating: 7
[User has posted 8117 recommendations about 8117 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve C left this review about Windsor Castle
This is quite a small pub that doesn’t have the most comfortable seating arrangement as to save space pew benches have been used around the walls and due to my frame I’m not big fan. There is a normal table in the large bay window, but this seemed to be the plot of choice for the well heeled locals. There is a large staircase at the rear of the pub which leads up to a lounge bar which is probably roomier, but I did not investigate on this visit. There is a plasma screen in the bar area, but this was off and I saw no signs for any sport which wasn’t surprising. The barmaid was a little frosty, but there was a good ale range of Seafarer, Pride, Landlord and Oxford Gold alongside a premium draught selection.
This is probably a good place to take the other half for a bit to eat, but I wouldn’t return just for a beer again.
On 6th March 2010
- rating: 6
[User has posted 5249 recommendations about 5217 pubs]