Longbow Venues
Independent operator Longbow Venues, which operate five pubs and hotels in the Peak District, champion high-quality, seasonal menus, crafted from locally-sourced ingredients.
The business, which was started in 2019 by managing director Rob Hattersley with the opening of flagship site the Maynard in Grindleford, sources 80% of its ingredients sourced from within a 25-mile radius. Historic hotel the Peacock at Rowsley is most recent addition to the group, which also includes inns the Ashford Arms and the George at Hathersage and the Peacock at Owler Bar.
The aim of its bespoke menus at each site is to offer something you can pop out of when you don’t want to cook during the week, as well as a place to celebrate a special occasion.
There are bespoke menus for each site, which blend elevated pub classics, with dishes with global influence. There is also an excellent focus on gluten-free dishes.
Longbow’s ‘people over profits’ culture is key to its ongoing success and has seen it feature in The Sunday Times Best Places to Work for the past two years. Team wellbeing is at the heart of the business, with impactful initiatives including four-day working weeks.
Wadworth
Wadworth has been on an impressive journey of transformation with its food offer, evolving from a one-size fits all approach to empowering each of its 19 managed pub to select menus suited to their clientele, which has driven strong results.
Led by operations director Mark Fulton and head of food Andrew Scott, who spent much of his career prior to Wadworth in Michelin star kitchens, Wadworth’s food heartland is giving mid-market community pubs an exceptional food offer.
There is a real diversity to the food menus across the business, whose sites include two hotels, seven pubs with rooms and a pub in London. Food offers include carvery site the Pheasant at Chippenham, a burger and wings menu at the Three Crowns in Devizes, as well as six sites that operate a more elevated food menu, including Bartons Mill, at Old Basing, near Basingstoke.
A strong training and development offer, including for young chefs, as well as inspiration days and masterclasses has also been key to Wadworth’s food offer success.
Urban Pubs & Bars
Urban Pubs & Bars, London’s biggest independent pub operator, has had a record-breaking year of growth, including expanding to now 68 sites, and achieving strong like-for-like food sales.
The business, which has a diverse range of ‘accessible premium’ food offers crafted from fresh ingredients from some of London’s finest suppliers, now serves more than 1m main meals a year. It reported record EBITDA in its last financial year and had its strongest ever Christmas, with covers up 40%.
It tailors menus to every individual site within the business, which comprises tapas bar concept The Salt Yard Group, which has 9 AA rosettes, suburban gastropubs, city bars and pubs and sports bars Bat & Ball.
The food offer at Urban, which was founded in 2014 by Nick Pring and Malcolm Heap, is delivered by a talented team of executive and head chefs, many who have multiple years’ experience within the business, which featured in The Sunday Times Best Companies To Work For 2025.
