What is the best gastropub?

The gastropub.

For those unfamiliar with the concept, they’re bars that place equal emphasis on high-quality food and drinks. Somewhere between your traditional boozer and a restaurant. 

They’re not my favourite kind of pub, to be honest. I’m more of a spit-and-sawdust, dive bar kinda guy. But I do have a certain nostalgia for them. I remember when gastropubs started to become a thing in the UK, in the 1990s, when I was a kid. As much as I loved just throwing a dart and having a cheese and onion crisp, there was something to be said for being taken to a pub and having a pie the size of your head or curry with all the trimmings.

Now gastropubs are pretty ubiquitous. It’s not easy to run a pub anymore and selling food, with its higher markups, can keep the lights on. Some gastropubs aren’t just surviving, but thriving. Elevating typical pub fare to such an extent – often with fresh, locally sourced ingredients and a well-curated selection of beers, wines, and spirits – that they’re recognised for their efforts. 

The best gastropub in the UK 2025

The best gastropubs in the UK have been announced and the top spot went to:

The Unruly Pig in Bromeswell, Suffolk.

The East Anglian-based bar topped The Estrella Damm Top 50 Gastropubs list for the third time. The award, from pub trade magazine The Morning Advertiser with headline partner Estrella Damm, is compiled using hundreds of votes from food critics and writers, gastropub chefs and other food influencers. 

The Unruly Pig dates back to the 16th century and has been run by Brendan Padfield and chef-patron Dave Wall since 2015. It also won in 2024 and 2022. The Top 50 team also awarded an accolade for One to Watch, the White Horse in Fyfield, Oxfordshire. 

The full top 10 gastropubs on the 2025 list are:

    The Unruly Pig, Bromeswell, Suffolk
    The Devonshire, Soho, London
    The Star Inn, Harome, North Yorkshire
    Parkers Arms, Newton-in-Bowland, Lancashire
    The Mariners, Rock, Cornwall
    The Red Lion & Sun, Highgate, north London
    The Three Horseshoes, Batcombe, Somerset
    The Sportsman, Seasalter, Kent
    The Cornish Arms, Tavistock, Devon
    The Bull & Last, Highgate, north London

What do you make of the list? Are there any pubs that are missing, or do you think there’s an undeserving entry? Let us know in the comments below. 

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