Royal Oak

Beer and Ale have been brewed in Windsor since it was founded as a new town around 900 years ago. William Waller the earliest known brewer was practising his trade around 1450. There was a brewery under the castle walls between Thames Street and Datchet road close to the 100 steps. The steps were the back entrance to the lower ward of the castle and St. Georges chapel, the owner of the brewery. Beer was being brewed on the site as early as 1539 in the reign of Henry VIII.

Isherwood’s Brewery was established to the site and as it was the largest brewery in the town it became known as the Windsor Brewery. In 1786 Richard Ramsbottom bought the brewery for £70,000, he was in partnership with James Baverstock and William Leigh. When James Baverstock died in 1837 the brewery was sold to Neville Reid and co and at the time of the sale the Royal Oak was listed as part of the sale and was probably the brewery tap. In 1919 the brewery and the Royal Oak were taken over by noakes brewery of Bermondsey which in turn was taken over by courage brewery in 1930. Four years later the brewery was closed down.

On 5th February 1727 Thomas Skinner attended the Brewster sessions in the guildhall to apply for a licence for the Royal Oak a new public house to be opened that year. These were not orderly times, the gin era was in full swing and there were many unlicensed houses. With a population of between 3,000 and 4,000, Windsor was well endowed with drinking and meeting places, moreover Windsor was a garrison town and these inns and public houses acted as barracks for the military until infantry and cavalry barracks were built around 1800. It was a statutory duty of all publicans to accept soldiers billeted with them. It could be an intolerable financial and physical burden and boxes of petitions against the practise can still be read at the public records office

Thomas Skinner was publican for 8 years and his widow Martha for a further 2 years. The longest serving licensee was Michael Langley holding it for a period of 24 years from 1758 to 1781.

The most famous licensee was Thomas Pennicott who was licensee from 1869 to 1880. His fame was due to his nephew h. G. Wells who was his nephew and whose elder brothers stayed at the Royal Oak in the summer holidays

In a bizarre incident the following was recorded in the Windsor & Eton express on 8th march 1834.

At a meeting of the commissioners of the pavement held at Windsor town hall on Monday, Mrs Bitmead of the Royal Oak, Datchet Lane, was fined 10 shillings and costs for allowing a pig owned by her, to run at large on the streets of the town. Mrs Bitmead told the court that the pig, a pet, escaped from its sty behind the Royal Oak and went on the rampage.

The commissioners of the pavement, established by an act of parliament in 1769, were a unit of local government responsible for the maintenance of the streets.

Today as it always has, the Royal Oak sits underneath the round tower in the shadow of Windsor castle and still essentially retains its traditional character. Oak beams and panelling abound and food is homemade and traditional with dishes such as beef & ale pie, sausage & mash and Sunday roasts with meat supplied by the royal farms, but there’s much, much more. Real ales, a roaring coal fire in the winter and a castle view terrace in the summer. There’s a coffee shop integrated and if it’s sport you want, it’s the only place in town to watch 3D television.