The Windsor Castle

I was thinking that this next pub might be a bit of a disappointment after the Churchill Arms had been so good.  How wrong I was!  The Windsor Castle is a really fantastic pub.  Again on entry the mood and atmosphere of the pub hits you and you feel immediately at home.  The dark wooden tables, bar and wpartitions give it genuine traditional pub feel.  No wonder it is in the national heritage pub inventory.  I’ve not got into the historic pub thing too much yet but I totally appreciate what they are doing as this type of pub is amazing to visit and could never be replaced by a horrible soulless air port lounge style Slug and Lettuce pub.  I’d always rather drink in a pub like the Windsor Castle than any other.  We got a seat by the door to the garden.  We didn’t see the garden on the day though as it was dark and cold.  

Pic off their website

My picture

Pub sign

The pub had a good range of ales and lager.  The lagers were all decent looking and they had the likes of Leffe and Aspalls Cider on tap which is a nice touch of class.  On tap they had White Horse Porter, which I had and it was a very good beer and I hope the brewery grows in size and is successful.  Also on tap was Sambrooks Wandle and Liberation Ale, which seems to be doing the rounds at the moment.  I’d not seen it till a few weeks ago.  

We sat in the pub for a few beers and enjoyed every moment.  Again this is well deserved of being in the good pub guide.   I will be going back to this pub in the summer to see the garden.  I thought it was such a fantastic pub.  I’d travel a long way to have a pint here.  As it turned out it was an easy winner for our favourite pub of the day!

Hare and Billet

For all two of my dedicated readers you may have been wondering what good pub guide pub I would visit this week.  You may have even had money on it.  But alas I was busy this weekend and as such this weeks review is a bit of a cop out.  I only managed to walk over Blackheath to have a decent pint of Moreland Original.  The beer hardly amazed my taste buds,  it was well kept but there is something about it which just didn’t excite.  Morland is owned by Green King and it is likely you will be more familiar with their other brew, Old Speckled Hen.

More about the beer later,  the pub itself is a well designed cozy pub with lots of nice wooden furniture and wooden flooring.  They allow dogs and I think there were three in there when I was there on Saturday night.  The pub has a warm friendly atmosphere.  It is a little outside the main heart of Blackheath and that lends to a nice crowd who are willing to go that little bit further to enjoy a nice location for the drinks and the atmosphere rather than just for getting drunk.  The O'neills down the hill has that covered on a Saturday night.  The crowd seemed a nice mix of people with some arty looking types in there.  One bloke was sporting a cracking multi coloured beret.  I was only in there for a cheeky pint so didn’t have any of the food but it looks like the standard fare and has had some good reviews on other blogs.  The Blackheath Bugle has a review of some of the food and seemed to think it was decent.  The pub has been refurbished since their review so don’t be misled.  The decor is now very tasteful .  The Greenwich Phantom has also made a trip there and they seem to be wine drinkers.  As mentioned I do not profess to know anything about wine so I will leave it to your own judgement on that one.  I believe that since that review the refurbishment has taken place and they have improved the wine list.

The pub has the usual mix of Green King beers, the IPA the Abbot, the Hen and a few lagers and wines to keep everyone happy.  I also had a bottle of Leffe which is a decent but not outstanding Belgium beer.  I think it is a shame when good beers get mass produced and lose some of their original quality.  I’m not against mass production of beer by any means as long as quality is kept.  Its a bit like how before InBev took over Hoegaarden  in 2005 it was a really good pint (or litre) but it seemed to lose some of its flavour and quality when taken over by a by a big company.   The best Hoegaarden in my opinion now is the Grand Cru.

Got a bit off topic there... The Hare and Billet is certainly worth a visit if you are looking for a nice friendly pub in the Blackheath area.  I can see why it is not in the good pub guide.  Being owned by Green King does seemed to have stifled it somewhat.  The generic template of Green King pubs is still too evident in this nice village style pub.