Sir Christopher Wren Hotel

About Sir Christopher Wren Hotel

The Sir Christopher Wren Hotel sits at the bottom of Thames Street where the road meets Windsor Bridge, on the river frontage between the town and Eton. The core of the hotel is a seventeenth-century house long associated with Wren, who was Comptroller of Works at Windsor Castle and whose father was Dean of St George's Chapel. Over the years the hotel has absorbed the buildings either side, so it now runs to 138 rooms, suites and apartments across a terrace of properties of quite different ages.

That growth is the hotel's defining feature. Rooms vary enormously - some are low-ceilinged and beamed in the original house, others are plain and modern in the later additions, and a number have river views over the bridge and Eton beyond. It is worth being specific when booking rather than taking whatever is allocated. Apartments with small kitchens suit longer stays.

Facilities include the Brasserie, which spills onto a riverside terrace in decent weather and is one of the better places in Windsor to eat outside with a view of the water, plus Wren's Club gym and a conference centre that takes a good deal of corporate business midweek. Service is efficient rather than intimate, in keeping with the size.

The location is the strongest argument for it: the castle entrance is a five-minute walk uphill, Eton High Street is two minutes across the bridge, and both Windsor stations are close by, with direct services to Waterloo, Slough and Ascot. Parking is limited and charged, so most guests arrive by train. It works well for couples, families and anyone splitting time between Windsor and London.