Companions for Eton High Street evenings in SL4, a bridge from Windsor

One street, and what stands on it

The High Street is narrow, cobbled in places, and lined with buildings that have been leaning on each other for centuries. Half the doorways are the wrong height because the road has risen around them. There are antique shops, two or three very old pubs, a scattering of restaurants far better than a street this short has any right to, and the college at the far end, best seen from the outside at dusk.

The bridge is the other half of the appeal. It is closed to cars, it takes thirty seconds to cross, and standing in the middle of it looking back at the castle is why people remember an Eton evening rather than merely enjoying it. Eton sits in Berkshire on the north bank of the Thames, and the college at the top of the street was founded in the fifteenth century, which is why the whole place is built to a pedestrian scale.

One hotel on this bank, three more over the water

SL4 6AN, on Eton High Street, is the only proper hotel on this side of the river. Its bar is small enough that two dozen people fill it, which suits some guests and not others, and it puts you in the middle of the street with nothing left to organise.

Over the bridge, SL4 1LJ is six minutes away and the hotel on Thames Street is slightly less, sitting just above the water on the Windsor bank. As ever, these are given because guests stay in them: no arrangement exists with any of them and no front desk is told a thing.

No station in Eton, and it hardly matters

Eton has no station of its own. Windsor and Eton Central is six minutes on foot across the bridge and Windsor and Eton Riverside about nine. From Central the shuttle reaches Slough in six minutes, where the Elizabeth line and the fast trains take over, and that is how most companions get to this street.

Driving here is possible and rarely pleasant. The High Street is narrow and parking is a matter of luck rather than planning. The recommendation on this page is to arrive once and then walk: it is the only area we cover where a complete evening genuinely needs no vehicle at any stage.

Small tables, and why they go early

There are perhaps five places on this street worth taking a table in and they know it. Book before seven or accept that you will be eating in Windsor. Your companion will often sort the table herself when the evening is in Eton, because she knows which of them is actually good on a Tuesday rather than merely open.

Two hours is enough here in a way it is not elsewhere in this postcode, because no travel sits inside the booking. Three gives you dinner, the bridge and a drink afterwards without anybody hurrying. The fee goes to her in person as she arrives.

Who takes an Eton evening

Jasmin is petite, sharp and fond of a street you can walk end to end in six minutes, with firm views on which antique shop has been closing down longest. Lucy is the other regular, dark curls and a weakness for carved datestones and cold walks over the bridge.

Across the water, Bianka, Luna and Violetta are six minutes away in Windsor, while Michelle and Rosa come over from the village at Datchet, which takes about ten minutes by road and considerably longer if you insist on the towpath.

Off the end of the street

Windsor is the obvious neighbour: thirty seconds of bridge and five more minutes of hill. Datchet is the quiet version of the same river, roughly ten minutes by road, with a station on its green. Slough is the shuttle, six minutes, and the only reason anyone reaches this street from London at speed.