please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
If you get lucky & find one of the window tables on the first floor - superb. Beer fine. Expensive food for a Spoons though. What a potential booze up if you get there early on royal wedding day. However, no doubt it will be full of people buying a couple of coffees and staying there all day
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Large pub on 3 floors, big beer garden to rear with a smoking terrace overlooking the beer garden. Friendly & efficient bar staff. On our visits I had pints of Nethergate Brewery 'Old Growler' [5%], very tasty pint, Grafton Brewery 'Apricot Jungle' [4.8%], very nice & fruity, Adnams 'Broadside' a good ale, & Gage Rorus 'Sleeping Giant IPA' [5%] quite tasty.
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Hey, what happened to the floor? Has it been taken out? It was there when I last visited.
Wait 'til Paul37 finds out.
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'Isss bladdy lavvly in there', said the Turkish pilot. 'Isss call King and Castle, opposite Windsor Castle in Eeengland. We flying there now.' I noted his enthusiasm, whilst casually re-engaging the autopilot that he'd mistakenly disabled when his copious beer belly unconsciously pressed against the control panel. 'Now get out of the cockpeet, if the stewardess sees you in here, she'll lash our bare arses'.
With that image burnt on my memory, I took my leave and returned to my seat. Landing at Gatwick, I simply ran from the plane steps to the perimeter fence and scaled it mirthfully. I eschewed immigration and customs and abandoned my luggage. Hampered by Cuban heels, I ran a pain-filled 28 miles as the crow files to the King and Castle across fields, ignoring cat-calls from farmers and wolf whistles of fugitives and holed-up highwaymen.
On arrival, I discovered its unique feature, one the Turkish pilot failed to mention - the pub has no floor. One enters and immediately takes hold of scaffold poles and traverses them 'monkey-bar' style to the bar. Transvestite robots populate the bar and efficiently tell you which 20 ales are unavailable. I was reduced to a gallon of Devil's Backbone. Its rather awkward to drink while you hang from the scaffolds - you have to let go with one hand and swipe your beer from the bar to mouth and back again before you fall into the swamps below. The toilets are another matter entirely - I feel sorry for the poor attendant, balancing and juggling his aftershaves and wares. They really should invest in a floor.
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Just keep reporting him. They will have to do something eventually!!!!!!
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Horrible tourist trap directly opposite the castle – avoid if you possibly can ! There were a few handpumps with the “trio of doom” in one corner, but of the main row of 6 all except one were falsely advertising ciders for the cider festival. The first time I saw this I promptly walked out, but I did return later to see if there was another bar elsewhere (yes) serving more real ales (no). I didn’t fancy the one guest available so settled for a half of Devils Backbone, for which I was charged £1.98 – more than £1 a pint more than I’m used to paying !
I was served by Ciara and Aneta was also there. There also a rather goegeous blonde – but I didn’t have the courage to ask “are you the famous Jasmin” !
Building 8/10 ; Beer selection & pricing 0/10 – I guess that averages out at 4/10 ?
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This was my second visit, but on this occasion, things were not as good,
Any decent pub must be judged on its variety of ale, especially a wetherspoons pub - most of the real ales were either off or 'coming soon', leaving only a choice of a few big brand beers. Two ciders shown on the bar were unavailable as well. This is a shame, as the pub is quite nice, but clearly being badly run when the availability of beers was so poor.
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Very plush.Pretty friendly.Good beer and a great choice too.It's a 'spoons i know.Some are good and some not.this is good.
funky - 12 May 2012 14:41 |
Whilst this is a 'Wetherspoons', I feel this is sometimes a term that is not always used fairly.
The pub is attractive, with leather seats and chandaliers, and is situated just opposite the Castle. Real ale choice was good, with some from locally sources. The price was very reasonable, unless Guiness was purchased which for whatever reason was on the expensive side.
Overall, a decent place which is worth a visit if you fancy a good pint in the centre of town.
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Better than average Weatherspoons. IPA was �2-10 a pint (as opposed to nearly �4 for other real ales elsewhere) although served a bit too cold for my liking. Night not spoiled by standing next to Lembick Opik who was off to the theatre down the road. Went back the next morning for breakfast where some hardy souls were partaking a a pint with their full english.
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This pub is much bigger than it first looks. The last time I visited, I stayed on the ground floor. This time I tried the downstairs bar. But there is also an upper bar too. The basement bar does not stock all of the beers and ciders, but does have 3 handpulls. Greene King IPA & Abbot Ale were on alongside a couple of Rebellion beers - Decomposed & Roasted Nuts. Gwynt y Ddraig Two Trees Perry and Westons Marcle Hill were the cider and perry. Not a bad choice for Windsor. Although service did seem a little surly.
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Best spoons ive ever been in, opposite the castle with a huge decked area at the back with loads of seating for a sunny day, staff were overun with Ascot punters the day i was there but still got served.
Mix of locals and tourists and in no way like the spoons at the other end of town however it is much pricier!!!! that said it is still value for money.
Good pub
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Only pub we could find open after 11 on a wednesday. Good choice of beers.... Nice pint. No atmosphere. Like every other wetherspoons in the land.
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I like the pub and all it characteristics. A great view. Comfy seats. Good selection of beers. Before it was literally an upstairs/downstairs pub. Downstairs was white walled and the punter tended to be youts, presumably each carrying an id card in their wallet.
Now it's all dark woods and shiney gold which is perfect in the evening especially if you like your stouts and porters or ambers and Belgian beers or cokes and lagers.
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While this bar had a decent selection of ales, I could not stay for long because the staff was particularly rude. My friends and I were happy to find a spacious place that could accommodate our large party, but the employees' attitudes left us with no option but to go next door.
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Nice 'spoons pub with what would have been a great selection of ales had half of been available although that were available (Rebellion Blond and Abbot) were excellent. Food and service was very good. Will certainly visit again.
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A Wetherspoons with a slightly better than average interior, but a far worse than average drinks selections. Beers available were Rebellion Blonde, Greene King Abbot Ale, Ruddles Best and Fullers London Pride. There were no real ciders available. The interior is very pleasant with a large staircase dominating proceedings on the ground floor. There are plenty of little corners in which to relax. It's also in a prime location opposite the castle, which means there are plenty of tourists in and around.
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Pretty good Wetherspoons, the pub is spread over a number of levels, and has a very large beer garden - February was not the Month for sitting outside. Standard Wetherspoons fayre, a good choice of beers, with the Oakham Smoked Porter being the outstanding choice, and pretty good service.
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Very large place, with massive beer garden for the centre of Windsor. The 'Dining Room' is well above average for a spoon and its the first place I ever saw spirits being served from a gun - the type that mixers/splashes usually come from; there are no optics here and the service is much quicker.
Easily, the best pub near the castle.
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Can't help but feel this pub has had a bad press so far.
It's very spacious as it's spread over three levels (including two bars), and the beer garden and terraces are enormous. Gets busy on weekend evenings, typically with the older than the younger crowd (owed partially to age restrictions on Saturdays - over-21s). Miles and miles and miles better than the other Spoons in Windsor, which is a grade-A hole. This one is clean and presentable, and despite being a normal Wetherspoon's has the feel of a Lloyd's. Not the widest selection of beers or wines, but the price surely makes up for that. Would strongly recommend this to anyone in the area.
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Had a flying visit here the other day, you can't visit Windsor without popping into 'The King & Castle'..! The premises extend upwards and sideways and down to a garden terrace area at the back aswell. (Plenty of outside areas for smokers too!) The food is ok for a quick snack 'on the hoof'! But if you want a real meal there are plenty of good local restaurants nearby (spoilt for choice). And if you can afford 'Browns' down by the river, try a meal, or just a drink in there! (Add this to your Windsor crawl)! Teejay
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Not bad for a Spoons, on three levels which is unusual. Small range of beer, I had an ok pint of Springhead Cromwells's Hat. Bar downstairs only does the standard Spoons beers but there is more room to sit down. Food came reasonably quickly.
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Typical Wetherspoons interior but much smaller than is normal for this chain.Only five handpumps dispensing real ale and a dull selection GK Abbott,Pedigree,Courage Best.... but the Nelson's Revenge was palatable.More room on the first and second floors but this is not really a pub focussing on real ale and is more for the under 25 town centre circuit crowd.
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Popped in over Easter. As usual, a good choice of Ales - typical of Wetherspoons. Staff mostly immigrants who have little knowledge of English pubs. Two members of staff carried on topping up the chiller cabinets despite the two servers struggling to cope with the customers. (again typical of Wetherspoons). Food wasn't up to scratch, sold out of several choices. Cheap for the area and that's why it's popular.
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as far as wetherspoons go thought this was ok, quite a nice atmosphere and tidy, although it was a bit cold and did need more heating
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There is something wrong with the food. My cousin who is a vegetarian, has suffered from a bad bout of food poisoning, after having a Sunday Vegetarian roast.
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There is something particularly horrid about a pub which is too cold on a winters day. Turn the heating up! Very nice Marstons Old Empire..but expensive for Wetherspoons
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for a lloyds jd chain pub expensive pub ok not that busy for friday afternoon thence serve straight away marston ped was 2-10 when i looked at drink price list fosters was 2-80 the town i lived in stella is only 2-70 in the most expensive pub and that is expensive
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All the people who think this is the worst Wetherspoons in the country have clearly never been to Reading! And why do people in Windsor seem to think it acceptable to visit a pub in bare feet?
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Terrible door staff that refuse entry on Friday and Saturday nights for not wearing shoes although its a pub??? I think the doorman has let things get to his head and feels the place is a high end nightclub when to be honest if i donned a pink liatard, put on a few pounds and flashed my arsed in the joy that i was getting married to some poor bloke who is if from the local area probably with another women then I would get straight in. Not a nice place at all. Shame because it is a very big place and large heated patios at the rear. Oh final note don't even touch the food. I would say they were not chefs merely microwave technicions.
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One of the worst JDW I've ever been in
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I was actually refused entry once to this pub for not having shoes on....ITS A WEATHERSPOONS!!! Walked round the corner to the much posher Browns and was admitted with a smile and "good evening sir" - different class
The staff really are dreadful in the King, you'll be lucky to get served the right drink
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I visited this Pub yesterday evening with several customers of mine, to kick off a night out. We got there for 7PM, and there were a few people in there, so I thought it was likely to be a good place for everyone (there was a few of us arriving at different times) to meet up.
As I was the one paying, initially I asked if I could leave a card behind the Bar, and was curtly told "No". Slightly taken aback, I asked if there was a particular reason, and was curtly told, again "We don't do tabs" Fair enough, however I pointed out that 16 others would be joining us at various points over the coming hour, so how could we resolve this? The Barman, of foreign Nationality merely shrugged his shoulders and walked away!! Flabbergasted, I exacted my revenge by paying for individual drinks by card every time one of my party arrived, or wanted another.
A potentially good Pub, marred by surly, dis-interested staff who thought they were doing you a real favour by taking your money. What a contrast to Browns down the road, who's staff cannot do enough for you!! What Tourists must think of Windsor is anyone's guess!!! 1/10
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we had been there all night on monday ? they served us beer at 11:55 and the doorman tried to kick us out at 00:05 ... they said "it was there decision when we can drink up" .. common courtisy would be 20 mins ... why would bar staff serve knowing your gonna get chucked out or .. is it badly managed and knowone knows whats going on ? ?
archie
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I agree with the other reviews this is by far the best Whetherspoons I have been in aswell. Lots of room inside, great outdoor seating, a vast selection of ales and also a great view of the castle. Reasonable prices aswell. Everytime I am in Windsor I pop in here for a pint or 2.
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Good quality Spoons with efficient and friendly staff and good range of drinks as should be expected from this chain. Sports on large screen. No lunatics or thugs.
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My favourite pub in Windsor! Bar none! The good ol' King+Castle! We luvvit! A big pub, with 2 or 3 levels (restaurant bit on top floor, with an interesting walk-way across the open area above the main bar..!! You can look down, and see virtually all the ground floor from that lofty height! Try it! Its kool!!
Staff were particularly professional, and adhere to strict rules like no under-21's, and no trainers, etc. (But thats good, so long as you know the rules).
They have a first floor terrace out the back, and now quite a large garden area down below (used to be muddy car park! But now paved & tabled,etc). A great pub, with such salubrious neighbours!
Windsor is a good place to go shopping at weekends. I can recommend the 'Thai Square' restaurant nearby (if you like Thai food) 100yds further downhill...then into the King+Castle for a nice evening drink, and boogie the night away downstairs, if you're feeling 30 !! And why wouldn't you...!!! Ace pub! 9/10 TJ.
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Best 'spoons I've been in, good beer range in good condition, food fine,staff helpful. Really comfortable with very pleasant outside areas, all spotless
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One of the best JDW pubs i have visited(out of 250+). Amazing building on several different levels, lots of unique bars and a good beer garden, well worth a visit, 10/10 without a doubt!!!
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Excellent free stand-up comedy night on Sundays, with really good quality acts. Nice pub too.
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nasty pub, overatted thinks its the bees knees. i was refused entry into there cuz i was wearing trainers. thats no diffrent from facism. been in there once and had 2 wait a good 15-20 minutes 2 be served.
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Had an excellent evening in the King+Castle at the weekend, with old friends. It was busy but the service was good. The choice of beers is adequate, and the food we had was above average. Well done Val, and staff at K+C. Oh, and we love the 'no smoke' too!! (Be warned though, the DJ can be a bit loud, in the ground floor area!) I will up my rating to 9/10. I always look forward to these little jaunts to Windsor! TJ
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Very ingenius 'ajs400'.. i'll remember that little tip..! Great bar K&C ! I'd go more often if it was walking distance.
Apart from a dress code, they're also a bit picky about 'over 21's only' after 9pm or something like that. My friends 18yr old daughter couldn't even have an orange juice here one evening, and then staff refused to serve us (all adults over 40yrs!) with her in the bar..!! What sort of nonsense rule is that..?!! Staff would rather turn away 8 middle-aged customers, (who were already unneccesarily embarassed!) than serve a soft drink to one of our group who was 18yrs! Thats amazing customer relations for you. Is that what licensing laws were made for..? To bar law-abiding respectable patrons..?! (STAFF PLEASE NOTE..) ! Confused of TW2 !
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Refurbed and looking good with the new no-smoking rule in operation.
Absloutely massive place, with a big beer garden outside. Menu's are rather upmarket (black+white...niiiice) with no 2 for sixpence pikey platters on offer (shame!).
Decent selection of ales on today, Rebellion's Smuggler and Ringwood's Fortyniner were in superb condition, Hogsback's Ripsnorter had been on for a while but still tasted OK. Small complaint is that they were served quite cold though.
Well worth a visit before settling down in the Carpenters Arms.
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I was surprised to be refused entry to this place on a friday night for wearing trainers. Its only a Lloyds! Managed to dupe the bouncers with the cheeky 'black socks over trainers routine'. Inside its a huge pub with character, an excellent range of drinks and live jazz some nights. The most expensive Lloyds/Wetherspoons I've ever been in but this is to be expected really as due to its proximity to Windsor Castle it attracts a lot of tourists so not really surprised.
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This pub was a bit quiet but it was Monday lunchtime. had a great pint of Rebellion (can't remember which one.
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(..don't ask a boy to do a man's job.. do it yourself I suppose..!) YES - 'KING & CASTLE' IS A 'NO SMOKING' PUB ! AND THE ONLY ONE I KNOW...! ! !
Well done Wetherspoons, taking the initiative, and producing a fine example of a 'smoke free bar'. This pub does have the 'WOW' factor..!! It hits you as soon as you walk in. Big bar area, airy high ceiling, plush seating, shiney polished bar, trendy lighting. All in all a job very well done! I cannot praise this bar highly enough. Go and see for yourself!
'Becks V' (4%) on tap, along with a good selection of ales and lagers. And what a location, over-looking the walls of the castle itself. I would not be surprised if 'Lizzy II' herself were so impressed that she just had to pop in for a royal night-cap!
At the back is quite a massive garden area, on two different levels with large table brolleys, for those patrons who would like to smoke!
This is a good pub! I saw no chavs here. That is why I have increased my rating from 7 to 9/10 ! Over to you now...!!! TJ
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The largest pub in Windsor, and possibly in all of Berkshire--spread out over three floors and an outdoor garden. Don't expect a quaint olde English pub, but a large modern place with doormen and a young crowd on the look for fellow singles. Still, good choice of ales and with all of that room, plenty of places to sit or stand.
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Does anyone know... is the 'King & Castle' a no-smoking pub now? TJ
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the only time i visted i had to wait a mer 45 minuits for a wrap and a sandwich! before the refurb it was 20!
not a great first impression!
even after our third trip to the bar asking about our food, the table that had orded their food after us (of 4 people big dinners ) had recived their food 10 minuites befor us!
has the cook there not heard of fifo?
seen the deco some where before???
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An 'interesting' pub, on a big scale... at least it was the last time I was in there, before their latest re-fit. Busy at nite at weekends, but thats Windsor! A barman in 'King & Castle' told me last year (2005) that they were going 'No Smoking' at the end of 2005...!? I know they've just had a second re-vamp in 12months, but has it happened yet..? There's a serious shortage of no-smokey bars, anywhere, but maybe that would help keep out the 'pikey' element..?!
I love the venue, right opposite Windsor Castle! Not many pubs can boast a view as regal as that! (If only the customers were as royal...they'd make a mint!) TJ.
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Okay prices for Windsor, massive place, nicely refurbished. I worry about when it will be completely overrun by the Windlesora (spelling?!) crowd. Four fat topless blokes sauntered into the bar when I was there. The place smelt a little, and the bar staff were complaining about not liking their boss. It didn't give the best impression. A friend of mine, who's 23, was asked to leave as he didn't have ID, and they refused to believe that a massive beard required being over 18. Shame. It's okay, but needs to sort its clientele and employee attitude.
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This place has now been refurbished, and is much better than before. Nice outdoor area, indoors is great too. But it's only a matter of time before the scum who used to frequent there pre-refurbishment find out it's open again. And you have to pay to get in after certain times on Fri and Sat nights. Good choice of drinks, well priced. It'll be a great shame to lose this place to the Slough pikeys/chavs in the very near future.
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Wicked pub, excellent prices, pitchers of vodka redbull at the same price as a single anywhere else in town... great view of the castle, easy to get to the station and a taxi rank right outside... Get involved!
anonymous - 6 Dec 2004 11:35 |
I just had a great meal at this pub. Old building, modern style Lloyds Bar (wetherspoons w/ music) pub. Had great choice of beer and good friendly staff.
anonymous - 14 Sep 2004 01:48 |
At least this place is a Wetherspoons/Lloyds - they can do some nice Ales and a decent range of bottled beers. Otherwise the basement is full of flashy kids and loud music - and the rest of the seating area on the ground floor and above is plesent if not to roomy.
Hal Richards - 27 Aug 2004 19:40 |
This is a huge pub, over three levels. From the castle you walk in to the middle floor, where the main bar is. The top floor is reserved for dinners, where the kitchens provide a good quality of 'standard' chain pub grub!
The basement is best avioded at weekends, far too smokey, full of kids and you can't here yourself think over the music... Christ I'm an Old Git!
Tom - 7 May 2004 15:55 |
A J.D.Wetherspoon right opposite Windsor Castle. Barn style decor with a modern feel
Kevin Rayner - 19 Feb 2004 17:03 |
