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The 100 best pubs in Britain have been named - full list

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/uk-news/100-best-pubs-britain-been-32777399

The Good Food Guide, in partnership with Timothy Taylor’s Landlord, has named the 100 best pubs in Britain.

Each pub was nominated by members of the public between August 26 and September 9.

In securing one of the top spots, they had to be:

• Beacons of brilliant cooking that maintain the spirit of a pub

• Pubs where drinkers are as warmly welcomed as diners

• Places where customers have room to relax over real ales, a carefully compiled wine list and homemade bar snacks

• Where menus are changing regularly, following the seasons and using high-quality local suppliers

The publication also handed out a Reader's Choice Award to the pub with the most nominations.

The vast majority of which are pubs across England, though none from Birmingham made the cut.

However, The Old Wharf Inn in Stourbridge managed to claim a spot.

Full list of 100 best pubs according to the Good Food Guide

1. The Highland Laddie, Leeds

2. The Kinneuchar Inn, Fife

3. The Merry Harriers, Surrey

4. The Beckford Arms, Wiltshire

5. The Radnor Arms, Kent

6. Greyhound Inn, Pettistree, Suffolk

7. The Pelican, Notting Hill

8. The Abbey Inn, North Yorkshire

9. Inn at The Sticks, Carmarthenshire

10. The Pack Horse, Hayfield, Derbyshire

11. The Eagle, Farringdon

12. The Barrington Boar, Somerset

13. The Sun Inn, Dedham, Essex

14. The Kerfield Arms, Camberwell

15. The Broad Chare, Newcastle – Readers’ Choice Award

16. Church House Inn, Devon

17. The Killingworth Castle, Oxfordshire

18. The Felin Fach Griffin, Powys

19. The Gunton Arms, Norfolk

20. The Plough, Rye, East Sussex

21. The Bath Arms at Longleat, Somerset

22. The Parakeet, Kentish Town

23. The Rat Inn, Northumberland

24. The White Hart Inn, Essex

25. The Pipe & Glass, East Yorkshire

26. The Bull Charlbury, Oxfordshire

27. The Farmers Arms, Devon

28. The Devonshire, Soho

29. Hop Pole Inn, Somerset

30. The Waterman’s Arms, Barnes

31. White Horse Holme, Norfolk

32. The Olive Branch, Rutland

33. The Old Wharf Inn, West Midlands

34. The Star Inn, Harome, North Yorkshire

35. The George at Burpham, West Sussex

36. Fox & Hounds, Hertfordshire

37. Tichborne Arms, Hampshire

38. The Bull Inn, Totnes, Devon

39. Parkers Arms, Lancashire

40. The Woolpack Inn, Gloucestershire

41. The Double Red Duke, Oxfordshire

42. The Cat Inn, West Sussex

43. The Canton Arms, Stockwell

44. The General Tarleton, North Yorkshire

45. The Anchor, Walberswick, Suffolk

46. The Camberwell Arms, Camberwell

47. The Brisley Bell, Norfolk

48. The Swan, Suffolk

49. The Riverside at Aymestrey, Herefordshire

50. The White Horse, Brancaster Staithe, Norfolk

51. The Kirkstyle Inn & Sportsman’s Rest, Northumberland

52. The Grove Inn, Devon

53. The White Hart, Fyfield, Oxfordshire

54. The Silver Cup, Hertfordshire

55. The Anglesea Arms, Hammersmith

56. Heathcock, Cardiff

57. The Feathers Inn, Northumberland

58. The Anchor & Hope, Waterloo

59. The Taybank, Perthshire & Kinross

60. The Queens Arms, Somerset

61. Hare & Hounds, Glamorgan

62. Applecross Inn, Highlands

63. The Punch Bowl Inn, Cumbria

64. The Clachan Inn, Dumfries & Galloway

65. The Bull Freehouse, Troston, Suffolk

66. The Exmoor Forest Inn, Somerset

67. The Ship Inn, Northumberland

68. The Bell at Selsley, Gloucestershire

69. The Tamil Crown, Islington

70. The Millbrook Inn, Devon

71. The Drunken Duck Inn, Cumbria

72. The Bull’s Head, Herefordshire

73. Dylan’s at The Kings Arms, Hertfordshire

74. St Kew Inn, Cornwall

75. The Pilgrim, Buckinghamshire

76. The Howard Arms, Warwickshire

77. The White Horse, Churton, Cheshire

78. The Alford Arms, Hertfordshire

79. The Plough, Bolnhurst, Bedfordshire

80. The Cotley Inn, Somerset

81. The Cornish Arms, Tavistock, Devon

82. Kilchrenan Inn, Argyll & Bute

83. The Red Lion, Isle of Wight

84. The Greyhound Inn, Letcombe Regis, Oxfordshire

85. The Halfway at Kineton, Gloucestershire

86. The Crown, Hastings, East Sussex

87. The Bonnie Badger, East Lothian

88. The Owl Hawnby, North Yorkshire

89. The Blind Bull, Little Hucklow, Derbyshire

90. The Surprise, Chelsea

91. The Leicester Arms, Kent

92. The Old Eyre Arms, Derbyshire

93. The Dartmoor Inn, Lydford, Devon

94. The Longs Arms, Wiltshire

95. The New Inn, Herefordshire

96. The Duck at Yeoford, Devon

97. White Horse, Lincoln, Lincolnshire

98. The Gurnard’s Head, Cornwall

99. The Manor House Inn, Somerset

100. The Bunch of Grapes, Rhondda, Pontypridd

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The top 100 British pubs? There are ten in the list that I’d really recommend

 

The Good Food Guide has unveiled its inaugural list of the nation’s best watering holes. Hannah Evans picks out the lesser-known gems that are featured

https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/food-drink/article/the-top-100-british-pubs-there-are-ten-in-the-list-that-id-really-recommend-kkznc5rng

he best pub in Britain is sandwiched between four grey blocks of university student accommodation and a fire station on the outskirts of Leeds city centre. That is according to the prestigious Good Food Guide, which today published its inaugural list of the top 100 British pubs. At the No 1 spot is the Highland Laddie on Cavendish Street, Leeds.

This might come as a surprise upon first arrival. On the 20-minute walk from Leeds station you will pass two casinos, a British Heart Foundation charity shop and a Premier Inn — hardly the picturesque scene of the bucolic British countryside that we traditionally associate with a good old pub. But inside you’ll find a welcoming, warm boozer with a wildly imaginative menu. The pub is billed as a “drinkers’ pub with a dining room”. It impressed the guide’s panel of anonymous inspectors so much that it was given top billing despite only reopening in April after its new owners, Sam Pullan and Nicole Deighton, found it on Rightmove.

• 12 great London pubs with £5 pints — Wetherspoons excluded

This is what the list is all about, says the guide’s owner and publisher, Adam Hyman. “It’s a guide for how normal people use a pub to eat and drink. We’re very proud to be championing these independent places that aren’t so well known but serve a real purpose in the community and have great food. The Highland Laddie ticks every box with a huge amount of flair.”

Nicole Deighton and Sam Pullan’s Highland Laddie in Leeds has been crowned Britain’s best pub

You won’t find any Michelin-star pubs on the list, or fine-dining restaurants masquerading as boozers. The word “gastropub” is also banned from the guide. “The word gastropub is outdated. It doesn’t mean anything any more,” Hyman says. “It conjures up that image of a lamb shank in gravy that you ate 15 years ago.”

These days it just reminds me of Tom Kerridge’s Gastro range at M&S. Speaking of which, none of Kerridge’s pubs, usually considered among the best in the country, is in the top 100.

• 20 top pubs in the UK to visit by paddleboard, kayak or canoe

“This isn’t a list of places that are well known because they have a famous chef or a big PR budget,” says Chloe Hamilton, the guide’s editor. “They are loved because they are warm and inviting. They’re a nice place to be even if you aren’t eating. Nothing is expected of you when you go in as a customer.”

Pubs you will find on the list include the Applecross Inn in Wester Ross, Scotland, accessed via the spectacular Bealach Na Bà Pass, and the Old Eyre Arms in Hassop, Derbyshire, in an ivy-covered 17th-century farmhouse. “You go into a lot of pubs these days and they are set up like restaurants. These pubs, however, don’t do that. You can’t book tables and there’s still loads of places for people to just come and have a pint,” Hamilton says.

The Church House Inn is in a Devon village near Totnes

Recognisable names still make the grade, such as the Bull in Charlbury, Oxfordshire, which has become so well known in the two years since it opened that this summer it became the watering hole of the former American vice-president Kamala Harris — weeks later, her successor JD Vance was reportedly turned away from the same establishment. Some of London’s best loved new “foodie” pubs are included too, from the Parakeet in Kentish Town to the Kerfield Arms in Camberwell and the Devonshire in Soho.

It’s not been a particularly prosperous time for the British pub. In 2024 their number fell below 39,000, approximately half as many as there were in the 1970s. Almost 300 of the closures were in England and Wales — that’s six a week — according to the British Beer and Pub Association. It’s a figure desperate enough to make you want to march down to the pub and order a round in solidarity — except, well, that would cost you at least twenty quid. In March, research commissioned by Frontier Economics also revealed that the average price of a pint will break £5 for the first time, although I can’t remember the last time I bought one for under £7.

The aim of the guide is to cut through the doom and gloom and help pub lovers to find a place that’s worth it. “When you actually go up and down the country and visit the pubs with proper hospitality, that serve the community but also have great food — be that a scotch egg at the bar or a three-course lunch — they are actually in really good health. They are doing it right,” Hyman says.

• The UK’s most glorious riverside pubs where you can stay the night

The list was compiled over six months, with each entry visited by several anonymous judges. In September the guide asked readers to submit their favourite pubs. They received 10,000 entries. “As well as our regional inspectors who have knowledge about specific geographies, we also have a huge amount of verification from our readers who tell us when management has changed hands or when they think standards have slipped or improved. Not every pub they suggest makes the list, but by visiting their suggestions, we are able to find out about the gems that nobody else has picked up yet,” Hamilton says.

This year’s readers’ choice is the Broad Chare in Newcastle. “It’s a longstanding institution,” Hamilton says. “You can tell the owner, Terry, is really loved by the community. It’s a proper pub and a really welcoming, interesting place to be.”

We’ve picked ten of our favourite lesser-known pubs from the list. For the full list of Britain’s 100 Best Pubs, go to thegoodfoodguide.co.uk.

The Radnor Arms, Folkestone, Kent (No 5)

Inclusive, warm, convivial town centre pub, which is part of Josh De Haan’s Pickled Egg Company. The head chef Niel Talan is Filipino and his sous-chef is from Sri Lanka so a southeast Asian thread weaves deliciously through the menu.

Inn at the Sticks, Llansteffan, Carmarthen (No 9)

Teej Sparks and her team run a proper village pub with a menu of Welsh sharing plates. There’s a women-led kitchen — Debs Neale and Mel Fairman have worked together for more than 35 years.

Church House Inn, Harberton, Devon (No 16)

ELLEN CHRISTINA HANCOCK

The setting — tucked away in a quintessentially sleepy south Devon village near Totnes — is at odds with the confident produce-led cooking from Tim Blanchard, who previously worked at St John, Sabor and the Seahorse. It has played host to a number of chef collaborations since opening, including Elliot Hashtroudi from Camille in Borough Market.

Hop Pole Inn, Limpley Stoke, Somerset (No 29)

Saved from conversion into residential accommodation during 2022, this grade II listed, 16th-century pub in a stunningly pretty West Country valley is now owned by the local community. The head chef and local farm boy Charlie Rawlings’s farm-to-table menu is a love song to British cooking and local producers.

The Anchor, Walberswick, Suffolk (No 45)

EMMA KINDRED/@EIGHTYONE

One of two pubs owned and run by Sophie and Mark Dorber, who recently bought it from the Adnams brewery. It’s hugely popular locally, with excellent beer and a wine list that takes you excitingly down paths less-trodden.

The Grove Inn, Kings Nympton, Devon (No 52)

Everything you could want from a country pub. The landlord Robert Smallbone has been here for more than 20 years and treats all his customers like old friends — an enthusiasm that inspires his friendly and helpful team. The main menu is hearty Devon grub and the dessert list is almost as long featuring a chocolate and Devon stout steamed pudding and burnt cream made with blackcurrants grown in the village.

The Queen’s Arms, Corton Denham, Somerset (No 60)

Ballymaloe alumna Doune Mackenzie-Francis bought the pub after the first Covid lockdown in 2020 and invested heavily in renovation work, transforming it into a model of contemporary country elegance. There’s a pub hub selling coffee and provisions in lieu of a village shop, characterful bedrooms and a classic pub/dining room with a menu from the head chef Rich Townsend, who came from the nearby Newt.

Applecross Inn, Wester Ross, Highlands (No 62)

MARY OVERMEER

Run by Judith Fish since 1989 and legendary for its location (at the end of the nail-bitingly vertiginous Bealach Na Bà pass) and its seafood — langoustines in hot, garlicky butter, plump hand-dived scallops, local oysters and crab.

The Ship Inn, Low Newton-by-the-Sea, Northumberland (No 67)

A whitewashed old inn next to a pristine stretch of Northumbrian coastline run by Christine Forsyth and her daughter since the 1990s. Famous for their crab sandwiches and great ale from their accomplished onsite microbrewery.

The Old Eyre Arms, Hassop, Derbyshire (No 92)

Muddy boots and dogs welcome at this 17th-century Derbyshire inn that has recently been taken over by Alistair Myres, owner of the local fine-dining restaurant Rafters.