Pub cats are always best, but I've seen few in the past months and pub dogs have been elusive and camera-shy.
It was May 2019 that I was last in Windsor.
This time around I had a couple of different pubs to tick off, as well as walking around the streets of the regal town in the Autumnal sunshine.
The first stop of the day, after a stroll along the riverside, was the local brewery taproom.
Yep, decent swan picture, lacklustre brewery picture...
Yep, decent swan picture, lacklustre brewery picture...
Visit on the weekend and you can grab a table among'st the brewery kit. But as we called in on a midweek lunchtime the brewery was in full work-place action and taproom visitors are consigned to four tables to one side of the shop.
So, okay, not the most atmospheric place to drink, but there's no denying that the 'Knight of the Garter' was in as good a condition as you'd expect a few meters away from where it's brewed.
Making my bag a little heavier with a few bottles of 'Scumbag Maggot', we left Windsor and Eton Brewery and walked through the side streets back toward the centre.
Mrs PropUptheBar has developed an uncanny knack of finding craft beer emporiums wherever we go.
I would have walked straight past the blackboard advertising A Hoppy Place, but she spotted it at a distance and demanded a diversion from itinerary to drink something stupidly strong.
A Hoppy Place (11 St Leonard's Road, Windsor, SL4 3BN - web)
This is located in a narrow shop unit, with fridges along one side, bar at the back and a handful of tables down the middle.
I've always found it a little odd drinking in a shop - never a substitute for a great pub - although this delivered an impressive choice of beer and cider, with friendly and enthusiastic staff.
It may have been far too early in the day, but I inevitably picked the strongest beer on offer - a Neptune Brewery 'Triptych BBA Wild Turkey' stout. Great stuff.
The Acre (Donnelly House, Victoria Street, Windosr, SL4 1EN - web)
This was formerly the Liberal Club, and whilst it still incorporates this, it's now open to the public.
It was Happy Hour, with pints of Windsor & Eton 'Conqueror' coming in at a wallet-friendly £2.00. Which was nice.
But the handful of happy hour punters sat facing a giant screen showing the 24-hour news channel. C'mon, there must be some sport on somewhere. Or 'Nightmare Neighbours Next Door'. If anything is going to thoroughly dampen happy hour it's sipping your £2 pint in front of the news in 2020.
Just a little way up the road, I made a re-visit to the Corner House (22 Sheet Street, Windsor, SL4 1BG). This is a great pub with an extensive choice of cask and keg beers, as well as giving us the chance to order some lunch to fuel us for the rest of the day.
The final pub of the day involved a fair walk away from Windsor, as we planned to tick off a nearby Berkshire GBG entry.
This involved crossing into Eton, then following the Thames Path, before branching off to Eton Wick. It was further than it looked...it always is.
A walk of two halves, this wasn't a route I'd describe as pretty once we crossed the motorway into the extended developments of commuter-belt housing that makes up 'greater' Slough.
Just past the village green, we spotted the Barleycorn pub, with another, The Kings Head, almost next door.
The Barleycorn (151 Lower Cippenham Lane, Chippenham, SL1 5DS - web)
This is an unspoilt drinkers pub, with tatty furniture and a general feel that nothing much has changed in the past 30-years.
The beer guide advertises 7 beers usually available but, as is the norm in Covid-ridden 2020, this was reduced to just a couple on our visit. I ordered an enjoyable pint of Loddon 'Ferryman's Gold' and sat to the side by the pool table, where nothing happened at all during our visit.
That's shoddy pub blogging, isn't it?
My 2021 Good Beer Guide popped through the letterbox a couple of days after making this trip. A fashionable late delivery to OX4.
A Hoppy Place makes it's debut appearance, but I'd missed the opportunity to visit new entries The Windsor Trooper and The Swan at Clewer Village.
So that'll be next year's trip to Windsor, when it remains to be seen if the camera-toting tourists have returned to the streets in front of the castle.
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| Not the prettiest - but they'll do you a same day beer delivery. |
Walking around Windsor I'd pointed out a number of lovely looking pubs to Mrs PropUptheBar including the floral displays on the frontage of the Two Brewers by the south gates of the castle.
And then I took her to the thoroughly dull modern concrete building that houses Acre...
And then I took her to the thoroughly dull modern concrete building that houses Acre...
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| Not the prettiest, but handy for the bus stop. |
This was formerly the Liberal Club, and whilst it still incorporates this, it's now open to the public.
It was Happy Hour, with pints of Windsor & Eton 'Conqueror' coming in at a wallet-friendly £2.00. Which was nice.
But the handful of happy hour punters sat facing a giant screen showing the 24-hour news channel. C'mon, there must be some sport on somewhere. Or 'Nightmare Neighbours Next Door'. If anything is going to thoroughly dampen happy hour it's sipping your £2 pint in front of the news in 2020.
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| Pub Life in the Acre. |
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| That'd be the bar, at the Corner House. |
Last time I was in Windsor, I described "chaotically crowded pavements".
Couldn't really be much different today...
Couldn't really be much different today...
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| Queen Victoria enjoys the peace & quiet. |
This involved crossing into Eton, then following the Thames Path, before branching off to Eton Wick. It was further than it looked...it always is.
Just past the village green, we spotted the Barleycorn pub, with another, The Kings Head, almost next door.
The Barleycorn (151 Lower Cippenham Lane, Chippenham, SL1 5DS - web)
This is an unspoilt drinkers pub, with tatty furniture and a general feel that nothing much has changed in the past 30-years.
The beer guide advertises 7 beers usually available but, as is the norm in Covid-ridden 2020, this was reduced to just a couple on our visit. I ordered an enjoyable pint of Loddon 'Ferryman's Gold' and sat to the side by the pool table, where nothing happened at all during our visit.
That's shoddy pub blogging, isn't it?
My 2021 Good Beer Guide popped through the letterbox a couple of days after making this trip. A fashionable late delivery to OX4.
A Hoppy Place makes it's debut appearance, but I'd missed the opportunity to visit new entries The Windsor Trooper and The Swan at Clewer Village.
So that'll be next year's trip to Windsor, when it remains to be seen if the camera-toting tourists have returned to the streets in front of the castle.
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