15. The Christopher Inn

The Christopher Hotel and Inn is a former 18th century coaching inn.

It was originally situated next to the College on Baldwin’s Bridge and was first mentioned between 1546 and 1548.

In August 1746, Horace Walpole wrote, ‘Lord how great I used to think anybody just landed at the Christopher’.

The first inn was acquired from the Crown in 1842 by Eton College in exchange for some of their lands in London.

The then headmaster, Dr. Hawtrey, strongly urged that no lease of it should be made because since the opening of the railway, the Christopher had become “riotous and demoralizing” for the college boys, mainly by the behaviour of visitors.

It was opened again as the “Christopher Tap” for senior boys who were allowed to drink beer and cider as well as have food there. 

The current Christopher Inn moved down the High Street to its present site and flourished as a Hotel with a coachhouse and stabling for 17 horses in the same year.

The hotel hosted regular meetings of the Masonic Lodge of Instruction of Windsor Castle until 1902 when it became a public house and then was sold to the Courage Brewery in 1962.

The current owner, who still lives in Eton, bought it in 1973 and converted the derelict stables into rooms and opened the Peacock Restaurant as well as a popular jazz bar. There are now 34 rooms. 

Jubilee Square can be found on the right, 30m further down the High Street after the Inn.