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This corner pub, tucked away in the back streets of Kensington, contrasts an old world feel that you might expect to find in a more rural setting, with a modern up-market service and menu style. The name of the pub is a reminder of when it was possible to have the excitement of seeing Windsor Castle from the top of Campden Hill, although the dray horses who had to pull the beer up there may not have shared the sentiment.
The bar room is divided into four drinking areas but, surprisingly, the partitions and other wood-panelling are not part of the original 1830 build by Fuller’s but date from a 1933 refurbishment. Included in CAMRA’s National Inventory and Grade II listed. Up to four cask ales may be on offer; the beer garden to the rear boasts its own bar.
A Heritage Statement about this pub can be viewed on the K & C Council planning portal and
archive photos of this site as a Charrington's Ales house may be seen at http://www.historypin.org/en/windsor-castle/
Historic Interest
Grade II listed, Historic England entry 1393696. Public house, c.1826, altered 1933. MATERIALS: Stock brick with roughcast and stucco facing; Welsh slate roof .
PLAN: The building comprises two main blocks: the original front block to the west with a slightly later irregularly-shaped extension projecting from the north-east corner; a modern single-storey kitchen extension spans the rear of the site. The ground floor is divided by screens into several small drinking areas, with separate access from the street. The first floor has several small rooms accessed via a common landing.
EXTERIOR: The principal (west) elevation to Campden Hill Road is of painted roughcast with rusticated stucco quoins. It is of four bays: the ground-floor windows have fixed multi-pane glazing, while the smaller first-floor windows have plate-glass sliding sashes. The glazed central doorway, marked 'CAMPDEN BAR', forms a pilastered centrepiece with the two flanking windows. The return (north) elevation to Peel Street has two further glazed doors marked 'PRIVATE BAR' and 'SHERRY BAR'. A flat-roofed north-east block, also with stucco quoins, projects to the left, with a large multi-paned window at ground level. The rear (east) elevation is of painted brick, with projecting wings to left and right. Three six-over-six-pane sashes survive on the first floor, one on the original block and two on the north-east extension flanking a projecting stack.
INTERIOR: The ground floor interior, remodelled in 1933, comprises four distinct drinking areas, divided by panelled oak screens and served by a C-shaped bar with a matchboard front and carved mahogany shelving behind. The Campden bar (front centre) and Private bar (front left) have pine matchboard dados and pew-like fixed benches with tall shaped ends. The Ordinary Bar (right) has a matchboard dado, plain glazed screens and a brick fireplace in the end wall. The Sherry bar (rear left) has oak panelling to frieze height, with moulded verticals and chamfered rails enclosing sunk square panels. The bar front has similar panelling. A ceiling beam spans the space, with corbels carved to resemble bunches of grapes. An arched brick fireplace in the rear wall has a painting of Windsor Castle set into the panelling above. The upper panels in this area have applied cartouches with relief carving. To the left is a deep window bay with panelling and fixed benches.
A stair behind the bar area leads up to the first floor, which appears to retain its 1820s form, comprising several small bedrooms opening onto a common landing via four-panelled doors set in moulded surrounds.
HISTORY: Campden Hill Road, which connects modern-day Kensington High Street and Notting Hill Gate, was originally a lane running between the estates of Holland House and Campden House, two large mansions built for wealthy courtiers in the early C17. By the beginning of the C19, the area was gradually being engulfed in London's western suburbs, and the Campden House estate was parcelled up for development; Campden Street and Peel Street were laid out from 1823 onwards by John Punter and William Ward. In 1826 Ward granted a 99-year lease on the plot on the corner of Peel Street and Campden Hill Road to the brewers Douglas and Henry Thompson of Chiswick, who developed the site as the Windsor Castle pub. Various changes were later made to the building, including two phases of refenestration and the remodelling of the ground floor interior around 1933. In the late C20 a flat-roofed kitchen extension was built to the rear.
SOURCES: Brandwood, G and Jephcote, J. London Heritage Pubs: an Inside Story (2008). Denny, Barbara. Notting Hill and Holland Park Past (1993). 'Bedford Gardens to Uxbridge Street: The Racks', Survey of London: volume 37: Northern Kensington (1973), pp. 77-86.
REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The Windsor Castle pub is listed for the following principal reasons: * Early fabric: a late-Georgian building, still in its original use, that retains a substantial proportion of its original fabric. * Interior: the 1933 remodelling created an interior of considerable charm, exemplifying the 'Old English' phase of inter-war pub design.
Three star - A pub interior of outstanding national historic importance
Listed status: II
Refitted in 1933, this is a complete surviving example of an inter-war version of Victorian style drinking arrangements, with three distinct rooms separated by screens with low openings in them.
The Sherry Bar is entered off Peel Street, the Private Bar is on the corner, while the Campden Bar lies along Campden Hill Road. Also helpful is the fact that the door glass names each of the three traditional rooms in red paint on frosted windows. Pride of place goes to the two screens, which create the three rooms very much in the manner of a Victorian public house. The Sherry Bar has fielded panelling on both the walls and on the bar counter, a brick fireplace and, over it, a much yellowed picture of the eponymous castle, and attractive fixed seating. A plaque in this room helpfully explains that the oak used in its refitting was felled in the period 1930-32. Between the Sherry Bar and Private Bar is a floor-to-ceiling screen with leaded glass panels in the top, the doorway in which you have to crouch down to pass through. The low service doors gave access to pot boys and cleaners as in the past customers would normally enter a particular bar from the street.
The Private Bar is also panelled, has two sections of attractive fixed seating and the bar counter is of raked matchboard panelling. The doorway in the screen between the Private Bar and the Campden Bar is a bit taller than that in the other screen, but has a wooden beam along the bottom that could be a trip hazard for the unwary. The Campden Bar has more wood panelling, more attractive fixed seating and a bar counter with raked matchboard panelling. The mahogany bar-back is the sole survivor from the Victorian era. To the right and opened up to the Campden Bar is a further room, which may be former private quarters brought into public use at a later date, and has few old fittings.
A well known pub for this affluent neighbourhood, the Windsor Castle is the most complete surviving example of an inter-war version of the survival of Victorian-type drinking arrangements right down to the 1930s. This plain, two-storey building of around 1825 sits at the summit of Campden Hill Road and was refitted about 1933. We know this because in the ‘Sherry Bar’ there is a plaque helpfully explaining that the oak used in that room was felled in the period 1930-32. The 1933 refitting created three small rooms separated by screens on the left-hand side of the property. Also helpful is the fact that the door glass names each of the three traditional rooms in red paint on frosted windows.
The Sherry Bar is entered off Peel Street, the Private Bar is on the corner, while the Campden Bar lies along Campden Hill Road. Perhaps it says something for the upmarket nature of the area in the 1930s that the rooms have fancier names than the usual public bar, saloon, etc. Pride of place goes to the two screens, which create the three rooms very much in the manner of a Victorian public house. The Sherry Bar has fielded panelling on both the walls and on the bar counter, a brick fireplace and, over it, a much yellowed picture of the eponymous castle, and attractive fixed seating. Between the Sherry Bar and Private Bar is a floor-to-ceiling screen with leaded glass panels in the top.
In order to reach the Private Bar you have to crouch to get through the door in the screen, which is only 3 feet 6 inch high. This low service door gave access to pot boys and cleaners as in the past customers would normally enter a particular bar from the street. The Private Bar is also panelled and has a baffle by the door with an iron rod attached to the top and fixed to the wall above the door. There are two sections of attractive fixed seating and the bar counter is of raked matchboard panelling. The screen between the Private Bar and the Campden Bar is only about 5 feet 6 inch high and the door in it to access the Campden Bar is only about 5 feet high.
The Campden Bar has more wood panelling, more attractive fixed seating and a bar counter with raked matchboard panelling. The mahogany bar-back is the sole survivor from the Victorian era. There is some pretty Arts and Crafts door furniture. To the right and opened up to the Campden Bar is a further room on two levels known as ‘The Ordinary’, which may be former private quarters brought into public use at a later date, and has few old fittings. The pub’s name is said to come from the fact that on a clear day Windsor Castle could be seen from it.
This Pub serves 3 changing beers and 1 regular beer.
Windsor Castle, Kensington
Changing beers typically include: Sharp's - Doom Bar , St Austell - Tribute , Wainwright - Amber
Lunchtime Meals
Evening Meals
Garden
Family Friendly
Dog Friendly
Restaurant
Smoking
Wi Fi
Real Ale
Real Heritage Pub
Quiet
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