A la Colthard/Sir Christopher Wren Windsor

A few years ago I was a regular visitor to both the Sir Christopher Wren hotel and Windsor.

The hotel got tattier and tattier.

One day on the outdoor terrace I saw a spritely Indian businessman directing affairs. He turned out to be the owner of Sarova hotels. Sarova have now taken over the hotel.

The hotel had had a total refurb with a new wing of rooms between the main building on Eton bridge and the railway station on the Riverside.

It’s not entirely to my taste with the dreaded patterned carpet but it’s now much more comfortable. It has a great view down the Thames from its terrace and restaurant.

My only real beef is a common one of mine – the greeting. They requested me to check in online the day before for Covid protocol.

I duly did so, but upon arrival one receptionist had to cope with a long queue.

I was asked to complete a form but the room was not ready so I had to return for yet more formalities.

The only point of the check-in online was to extract payment.

I had a long standing invitation to Windsor evening races.

To get to the course you take a divine boat trip down the Thames.

On arrival we met another example of bad practice. We queued to get in, showed the e-ticket and were directed to yet another queue. It transpired we could go straight to the 1866 restaurant, which my friend had booked.

From there we had a fine view of the course and ample balcony space to watch the racing.

As usual I lost on every race but “mine host” won enough on the final one to cover the cost of dinner.

There was that now familiar feeling of demob happy as crowds returned with jollity to their pleasures.

We took the boat back and saw  the lit castle where our Queen in bereavement has resided throughout lockdown.