From the Perseverance to a Maidenhead Newbie

After a week of craft beers in Estonia and Latvia I was craving a pint of cask ale. So we headed to the eastern edges of Berkshire on a grey and overcast day to get one.  Or two.

Our first port of call was the village of Wraysbury, a few miles to the east of Windsor. It takes just under 10-minutes from Windsor on the slow train which was already busy with rugby fans making their way early to Twickenham.
We were the sole passengers to alight in Wraysbury, an historic village with a population of just over 4,000.  It's a delight for plane spotters, being on the western approach to Heathrow airport, although we found the novelty of a jumbo jet roaring by just over our heads wore off pretty quickly.

Wraysbury has two pubs and a club, but we just stuck to the Good Beer Guide listed Perseverance. 

The Perseverance (2 High Street, Wraysbury, TW19 5DB - web)
The front room is almost certainly the best of the seating areas in this pleasant village pub.  Wooden beams, piano, a dart board which would require some hefty furniture moving to make it usable, and a grand inglenook fireplace.
I'm not quite sure why we didn't sit in there: I think I was too nervous about being told off by the landlady for sitting somewhere which was reserved - I was already getting suspicious looks after taking a picture of the pump clip.

There were three ales on offer: an Otter bitter and two stouts.  I started with the J.W.Lees and Salt collaboration, a very tasty export stout named 'The Mighty Deep'.
Once we'd negotiated our way past the 'food for pre-booked reservations only' rule (a little odd, as it wasn't that busy) I followed the export stout with an Irish dry stout: Morrisman' from the local Elusive Brewery.  Another good beer on top form.

Suitably fed and refreshed in the Perseverance, we hopped aboard a train back to Windsor Riverside station, then passed through the centre of the town which was looking a lot busier with tourists compared to my last couple of visits here.
We were making our way to Good Beer Guide entry The Trooper...

The Windsor Trooper (97 St Leonards Street, Windsor, SL4 3BZ - web)
The rectangular front room of the Trooper looked great, with sectioned bench seating and tables designed for communal drinking and conversation.  No distractions here other than the plentiful collection of breweriana on the walls.
There's lots more space - and sport on TV - in a hall-like room to the rear and on a smart patio with covered and heated seating.

On the bar there was an Adnam's 'Southwold Bitter' and Oakham 'Citra', alongside four from Mad Squirrel.
Trust me to pick the wrong one. The 'Extra Squirrelly Bitter' was a dubious pint, not helped by the dispense method of sitting the glass on the drip tray and pumping the hand pull for ages with a bored expression.

Dubious beer.  Should really have taken it back.

Mrs PropUptheBar made a far better choice with the cider, the pub having won a recent local Cider Pub of the Year accolade.

We had a 20-minute walk ahead of us on roads less trodden by the average Windsor tourist.  Clewer Village is located just across the A332, midway between Windsor Castle and the  Racecourse.  The Swan is one of those Beer Guide location oddities, that really could just be listed under Windsor.

The Swan (9 Mill Lane, Clewer Village, SL4 5JG - web)
It's a community owned pub, brought back to life by local investors in 2019 after being closed for over 3 years.  The pictures on their website suggest it underwent some pretty drastic stripping back to bare bones, so no surprise that the single room is bright, airy and modern.  

A reasonable and varied Saturday afternoon crowd were mostly focused on the Six Nations on the TV.  Yes, it's that time of year again.  
Which means rugby themed beers - always best avoided - though for reasons unknown I succumbed to the Windsor and Eton 'Last Drop' here.

Our route back took us back through Alexandra Park by the riverside and up an old concrete staircase to station level.  But half-way up we spotted this in the railway arches...

Ooooh, we could always get a later train!

Two Flints Brewery Taproom (The Arches, 25-26 Alma Road, Windsor, SL4 1QZ)
Only open a matter of months, there was a decent crowd enjoying the crafty offerings from the bar and shouting at the rugby on a screen somewhere upstairs.  Seating was located on long benches on two levels, with the brew kit bathed in purple stretching into the depths of the place.
Twelve tap lines served a selection of their own beers alongside varied and interesting guest ales - a Two Flints murky 6.8% New England IPA named 'Cosmic Dance' for me, please.

 

I made a quick check to see if anyone had turned Keith's Shed at Windsor Central station into a micropub...

Nope, not yet.

Before we jumped aboard a train and made our way back to Slough, then onward to Maidenhead.
Apparently I'd neglected to mention to Mrs PropUptheBar that I intended to add a visit to Maidenhead onto the end of the day.
Her enthusiasm rose when taking on the not inconsiderable challenge of navigating the town's western housing estates; dipped quite low once we reached the pub; then rose again when we found a new craft bar.

Heck, it was a long way to the North Star...

But at least a perusal of their website confirmed it offered everything we needed:

The North Star (91 Westborough Road, Maidenhead SL6 4AP - web)
A two-room backstreet local, we headed through the main door into a steamy and busy main bar with the England rugby match on the big screen being watched by an enthusiastic crowd.
With no hand pumps in sight I had to ask after the ale and was given a choice of Timothy Taylor or Rebellion.

There was nowhere to sit, or even feasibly stand, in the main bar we headed through to the empty side room which is where they hide the real ale, local CAMRA magazines and weirdo pub tickers (that'll be me).

It was a little odd knowing one half of the pub was heaving whilst we sat in peace and quiet, but not entirely unpleasant.
Helped a lot by a cracking cheese & onion cob and the Rebellion 'Adventurer' being a decent traditional dark ale on good form.

Leaving the North Star we trekked the streets on a different route back to the centre and found our way to A Hoppy Place.  This is located on the ground floor of brand new smart housing blocks which were a building site when I was last here.  The town is regenerating as folks relocate to be within 30-minutes of London by the Elizabeth Line and 5-minutes walk from Doom Bar in the Maidenhead Conservative Club.
Or, if they're really lucky, living just above A Hoppy Place...

A Hoppy Place (Units 1-3 Trinity Place, Park Street, Maidenhead, SL6 1TJ - web)
Opened in June 2022, this is an expansion of the bottle shop/bar in Windsor.  But unlike the Windsor branch, this is a spacious place with a range of seating options and large bar counter.
There are cask ales - making this a shoe-in for the next Beer Guide, surely - plus 14 keg lines and a fridge full of cans and bottles.

So after setting out in the morning for fine pint of cask ale, I ended the evening back on the craft beer.
Next you'll be telling me it's all the rage!