Four Pubs, Four Pints of Guinness and a Boat to the Track
A pub-by-pub route through Windsor before racing, with Guinness prices and honest verdicts, finishing with the boat to the racecourse.
If you're heading to Royal Windsor, the day shouldn't start at the turnstiles. Windsor is one of the best pre-racing towns in the country: proper pubs within a few minutes' walk of each other, a castle in the background, and a boat that takes you to the track when you're done.
We walked it, drank it and priced it up. This is part of our ongoing Paddock Preview series where we document real racedays, real costs, and give you honest recommendations. No fluff, just the stuff you actually need to know.
The Route
Four pubs, in this order: The Corner House → The Two Brewers → The Carpenters Arms → The Boatman. You start on the town side, loop past the Long Walk and the castle, and finish on the river, a very short walk from where the racecourse boat leaves.
Stop 1: The Corner House
Guinness — £6.90 (the cheapest of the day)
The Corner House sits on the corner of Sheet Street and Victoria Street, in a Grade II listed building that was refurbished in a traditional style in 2017. In 2022 it added 13 screens for live sport, which makes it the obvious place to start if there's a match on. We watched the Liverpool game here.
The Guinness was the best-poured pint of the tour. They follow the proper process and leave it to settle for plenty of time, and you can see care being taken over it. It tasted good too.
Beyond the Guinness, there's a good selection of lager, and the bar runs to fourteen hand pumps of changing ales and ciders plus 19 keg lines. The food menu is a big one, and there's a games room upstairs and a small roof terrace. Nice layout, nice pub, and a strong start.
Stop 2: The Two Brewers
Guinness — £7.20
The location is unbelievable. The Two Brewers is a small, wood-panelled 17th-century inn on Park Street, right by the Cambridge Gate entrance to Windsor Great Park and the Long Walk. Every so often you'll see horses walking past on their way into the park.
It's a proper old-school pub with great decor; CAMRA lists the interior as one of very special national historic interest. Outside there are trestle tables, beer barrels and overflowing geraniums, and that's where you want to be drinking on a sunny day.
Now the honest bit. The Guinness looked the part from the top, but the bubbles lower down the head spelled danger, and it tasted below average. My fish fingers weren't great either, and I had to send them back. So come here for a lager and the setting, not the Guinness or the food.
Two things worth knowing: it's small, so it fills up quickly, and children aren't allowed inside.
Stop 3: The Carpenters Arms
Guinness — £7.50
A stone's throw from the castle on a quaint cobbled side street, the Carpenters Arms is a Nicholson's pub that has been voted local pub of the year several times. The interior is spread over three levels, and the lowest is reputed to house a passageway to the castle. It has entrances on two different streets, Market Street and Church Street, with outside seating at both.
The Guinness had a good appearance, a good head and a good taste. This is also where we'd tell you to eat. The menu is strong, and we had the fish and chips and the fish pie, both good.
Stop 4: The Boatman
Guinness — £7.90 (the most expensive of the day)
The Boatman sits right on the Thames at 10 Thames Side, in the shadow of the castle and looking straight out over Eton Bridge, and it's the only pub in Windsor that's actually on the river. The setting is lovely. The building dates back to 1829, when it was built to serve the river trade, and it's been a pub ever since, previously known as the River House and, before that, the Donkey House.
The big terrace seats around 100 and is where you want to be on a nice day, watching the boats go past. If the weather turns, there's a glass conservatory with a heated, retractable roof, so you can still sit by the water.
Now the Guinness. At £7.90 it was the priciest pint of the tour, but to be fair it was a good one, and you're paying partly for the view. There's real ale on too, usually including a changing beer from local brewer Windsor & Eton. Food runs from midday until 10pm, with pub classics like beer-battered fish and chips, hearty mains and roasts on a Sunday.
Two things worth knowing: it's dog-friendly, family-friendly and popular with Thames Path walkers, so it gets busy and is worth booking if you're in a group. It's also directly opposite Windsor & Eton Riverside station if you're arriving by train.
The best bit is the location for raceday. It's a very short walk to the racecourse boat, so finish your pint, wander down to the river and cruise up the Thames to the track.
