The Tartan Fox by Adam Handling, Newquay, Cornwall
Located on the Cornish coast, the Tartan Fox by Adam Handling in Newquay brings a fine dining flair to the area’s pub scene, with a focus on zero-waste cooking and locally caught seafood. The 90-cover Grade-II listed pub opened in June 2024.
The brand’s iconic cheese doughnuts feature on the menu alongside a crab cocktail with a yellow curry sauce, hot-smoked lamb rump, haggis scotch egg, corn ribs and a variety of steak options.
Handling’s other pub, the Loch & the Tyne in Windsor, was crowned the Great British Pub Awards Best Pub for Food in 2023.
The Bull & Swan, St Martin’s, Stamford, Lincolnshire
The Bull & Swan is a historic coaching pub with rooms in Stamford, owned by the Burghley Estate and operated as part of the Woodford Group.
Offering wood-fired pizzas alongside traditional and comforting pub food and real ales, the pub, which dates back to the 17th century, also hosts a variety of events throughout the year in its impressive kitchen garden.
The Bull & Swan, which was last year’s Best Town Pub, opened following renovation under the current management in 2011.
Heft, Newton in Cartmel, Cumbria
Heft is a Michelin-starred pub and restaurant situated near Grange-over-Sands in Cumbria, run by chef Kevin Tickle and his wife Nicola.
The husband-and-wife duo took on the traditional village pub, which dates back to the 17th century, in 2021 and have since made it a destination for food lovers as well as a community hub.
It offers modern British cuisine, including tasting menus inspired by the local environment alongside a bar snacks menu featuring seasonal produce and ingredients.
The Black Bull, Sedbergh, Cumbria
Another Cumbrian finalist, the Black Bull at Sedbergh is a unique pub offering Japanese-inspired cuisine alongside classic British pub dishes. It has two AA Rosettes.
The pub’s Tsuchi restaurant boasts a tasting menu featuring dishes like Lincolnshire smoked eel, venison & hash brown or Scottish crab, parsley & brioche.
Meanwhile the pub menu includes lamb & kimichi tartar, hen of the woods mushroom & truffle and Landlord British white beef pie, seasonal greens & mash.
There are also 18 bedrooms at the pub, which head chef Nina Matsunaga and her husband James took on in 2018.
The Shibden Mill Inn, Shibden, Halifax, West Yorkshire
Number 21 on the Top 50 Gastropub’s list, the Shibden Mill Inn in Halifax saw success in this category in 2022.
Boasting two AA Rosettes, the menu features seasonal dishes with local produce, including king scallops with a Thai green curry foam, an Isle of Wight tomato tart with smoked tomato sauce, lovage emulsion, torched tomatoes & herb cream cheese, pork loin with black budding pommes anna and salt aged Sirloin steak.
There are also 11 bedrooms on offer at the pub, which is run by Max Heaton and has been family owned for the past three decades.
The Bull at Charlbury, Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire
The Bull at Charlbury opened in its current form in July 2023, following an extensive refurbishment by publicans James Gummer and Phil Winse
Part of the Public House Group, which is also known for its London pub the Pelican, the Oxfordshire pub oozes Cotswold charm, with Sally Abe heading up the kitchen.
With food sourced from its own nearby farm, the flexible menu features the Top 50 Gastropub’s famed Bull pie as well as pork chop with crushed peas and Chalk stream trout.
