Spending three hours in a pub with two good friends is one of life’s pleasures in my opinion, and so it was when Sparky, Mike Davies and I found ourselves at the Windmill in a Mayfair side street on a quiet weekday afternoon.
Such are the bonuses of time off work and friends who work irregular hours that we managed to see the pub from its busy lunchtime trade, through to a very quiet afternoon where there were hardly any punters around.
The Windmill is a decent pub but the range of drinks makes it punch above its weight. That also makes it an easy place to spend time catching up.
On draught was the entire Young’s range, including the brewery’s new stout, which comes in an exceptionally impressive glass. Also on tap was Brains SA, an offering from Twickenham brewery, Peroni, Kronenbourg and others. The downside was that when I asked for a handle glass, which seems to be the best way to enjoy ale, I was told by the bar maid that there was only one in the whole pub and she didn’t know where it was. For a place with so many ales on tap, this seems like a fairly large faux pas.
Other than its lack of quality glassware, the pub is split into three sections – two are on ground level, separated by a frosted glass screen and the third, with its own bar, is about three steps down and was slightly darker. This seemed to be more set up for dining.
When I arrived however, the whole place was full of people noshing away on the pub’s seven-strong selection of £10.50 pies which included chicken, bacon and leek, through to £99.5 vegetarian options like sweet potato, lentil and feta.
The Windmill is a decent pub to spend time in, the décor is ok, not outstanding, but what makes it is the quality of the company and the range of ales, so I was very happy on both counts. This was one of the most enjoyable afternoon drinking sessions in a long time, I just wish I had tested out one of the pies, which did look pretty damn good.
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Pete Le Riche’s Great London Pub Tour: Central London pubs
The Windmill
6-8 Mill Street, Mayfair, W1S 2AZ
020 7491 8050
London City Pubs 