The Good Pub Guide (Ebury Press, £15.99) is a national institution – a bible for pub-goers. Now in its 34th edition, it’s the UK’s No 1 bestselling guide and as invaluable as ever. It features over 5000 pubs with friendly and informative descriptions. Organised county by county, each section highlights Main Entriesthat have been fully inspected and carefully selected to warrant their place. These are followed by a number of shorter Worth A Visit descriptions where outstanding pubs are clearly starred. This year the Guide welcomes 117 new entries which cater to all pub tastes but all of which share the stamp of real quality.
Pub of the Year 2016
To compete in the Pub of the Year category a pub has to have unanimous enthusiasm from all readers on all aspects of its business – it has to be top of its game.
Pub of the Year 2016 is awarded to the Horse & Groom, Bourton-on-the-Hill, Gloucestershire (pictured above). For ten years brothers Will and Tom Greenstock have been at the helm of this first class and excellent all-rounder. Beating off competition from over 5000 other pubs, the Horse & Groom is acknowledged in The Good Pub Guide 2016 as:
“Handsome Georgian inn with a fine range of drinks, excellent food, friendly staff and lovely views from seats outside; smart bedrooms. ‘A consistently reliable favourite’ and ‘everything here is as lovely as ever’ are just two of the comments from readers on this particularly well run, honey-coloured stone inn.”
See below for the full list of Award Winners this year.
Young Landlords helping the Pub Trade bounce back
This year’s edition of the Guide also reports that more than one in seven of Britain’s pubs are now being run by licensees aged between 25-35. This is a big change: a jump of almost a quarter in just the last three years.
Not deterred by what has been a difficult time for the industry and rejecting uninspiring office jobs for the chance to run their own business, a new generation of publicans is bringing fresh enthusiasm to the licensed trade.
The Guide’s editor, Fiona Stapley, comments: ‘These younger landlords are drawing in younger customers, curious to see what might be different. The interest in craft beers is booming and the niche spirit trade is burgeoning with small companies springing up across the country producing artisan gin, vodka and whisky. These new, younger publicans are absolutely in tune with such trends, as well as being up to speed with today’s fitter, leaner mood and the demands for fair-priced healthy food. The result is that these young publicans are re-energising the whole industry, making the days of decrepit boozers with dull beer and freezer-pack food a thing of the past.’
The No 1 Complaint – Unruly Children
The new edition reports that the No 1 complaint from pub goers this year has been badly behaved children.
According to Fiona Stapley, the editor of the Guide: ‘The era of children being seen but not heard, has been consigned to history – and quite right, too. But now that almost all pubs warmly welcome children at all times, the few problem families, whose children run riot, stick out like the proverbial sore thumb. We get more complaints from readers about unruly children than anything else.’
Good Pub Guide National Award Winners 2016 Awards
PUB OF THE YEAR: Horse & Groom, Bourton-on-the-Hill, Gloucestershire
DINING PUB OF THE YEAR: Bunch of Grapes, Pontypridd, Mid Glamorgan
NEW PUB OF THE YEAR: Porch House, Stow-on-the-Wold, Cheltenham
OWN BREW PUB OF THE YEAR: Grainstore, Oakham, Rutland
BEER PUB OF THE YEAR: Fat Cat, Norwich, Norfolk
WHISKY PUB OF THE YEAR: Sligachan Hotel, Sligachan, Isle of Skye
WINE PUB OF THE YEAR: Woods, Dulverton, Somerset
UNSPOILT PUB OF THE YEAR: White Lion, Barthomley, Cheshire
The Good Pub Guide(Ebury Press, £15.99)is a national institution – a bible for pub-goers. Now in its 34th edition, it’s the UK’s No 1 bestselling guide and as invaluable as ever. It features over 5000 pubs with friendly and informative descriptions. Organised county by county, each section highlights Main Entriesthat have been fully inspected and carefully selected to warrant their place. These are followed by a number of shorter Worth A Visit descriptions where outstanding pubs are clearly starred. This year the Guide welcomes 117 new entries which cater to all pub tastes but all of which share the stamp of real quality.
Pub of the Year 2016
To compete in the Pub of the Year category a pub has to have unanimous enthusiasm from all readers on all aspects of its business – it has to be top of its game.
Pub of the Year 2016 is awarded to the Horse & Groom, Bourton-on-the-Hill, Gloucestershire (pictured above). For ten years brothers Will and Tom Greenstock have been at the helm of this first class and excellent all-rounder. Beating off competition from over 5000 other pubs, the Horse & Groom is acknowledged in The Good Pub Guide 2016 as:
“Handsome Georgian inn with a fine range of drinks, excellent food, friendly staff and lovely views from seats outside; smart bedrooms. ‘A consistently reliable favourite’ and ‘everything here is as lovely as ever’ are just two of the comments from readers on this particularly well run, honey-coloured stone inn.”
See below for the full list of Award Winners this year.
Young Landlords helping the Pub Trade bounce back
This year’s edition of the Guide also reports that more than one in seven of Britain’s pubs are now being run by licensees aged between 25-35. This is a big change: a jump of almost a quarter in just the last three years.
Not deterred by what has been a difficult time for the industry and rejecting uninspiring office jobs for the chance to run their own business, a new generation of publicans is bringing fresh enthusiasm to the licensed trade.
The Guide’s editor, Fiona Stapley, comments: ‘These younger landlords are drawing in younger customers, curious to see what might be different. The interest in craft beers is booming and the niche spirit trade is burgeoning with small companies springing up across the country producing artisan gin, vodka and whisky. These new, younger publicans are absolutely in tune with such trends, as well as being up to speed with today’s fitter, leaner mood and the demands for fair-priced healthy food. The result is that these young publicans are re-energising the whole industry, making the days of decrepit boozers with dull beer and freezer-pack food a thing of the past.’
The No 1 Complaint – Unruly Children
The new edition reports that the No 1 complaint from pub goers this year has been badly behaved children.
According to Fiona Stapley, the editor of the Guide: ‘The era of children being seen but not heard, has been consigned to history – and quite right, too. But now that almost all pubs warmly welcome children at all times, the few problem families, whose children run riot, stick out like the proverbial sore thumb. We get more complaints from readers about unruly children than anything else.’
Good Pub Guide National Award Winners 2016 Awards:
PUB OF THE YEAR: Horse & Groom, Bourton-on-the-Hill, Gloucestershire
DINING PUB OF THE YEAR: Bunch of Grapes, Pontypridd, Mid Glamorgan
NEW PUB OF THE YEAR: Porch House, Stow-on-the-Wold, Cheltenham
OWN BREW PUB OF THE YEAR: Grainstore, Oakham, Rutland
BEER PUB OF THE YEAR: Fat Cat, Norwich, Norfolk
WHISKY PUB OF THE YEAR: Sligachan Hotel, Sligachan, Isle of Skye
WINE PUB OF THE YEAR: Woods, Dulverton, Somerset
UNSPOILT PUB OF THE YEAR: White Lion, Barthomley, Cheshire
TOWN PUB OF THE YEAR: Wykeham Arms, Winchester, Hampshire
COUNTRY PUB OF THE YEAR: Fleece, Bretforton, Worcestershire
INN OF THE YEAR: Luttrell Arms, Dunster, Somerset
VALUE PUB OF THE YEAR: Crown & Trumpet, Broadway, Worcestershire
LICENSEE OF THE YEAR: Kathryn Horton, Ostrich, Coleford, Gloucestershire
BREWERY OF THE YEAR: Harveys, Lewes, East Sussex
PUB GROUP OF THE YEAR: Cirrus Inns represented by The Epicurean Collection
TOWN PUB OF THE YEAR: Wykeham Arms, Winchester, Hampshire
COUNTRY PUB OF THE YEAR: Fleece, Bretforton, Worcestershire
INN OF THE YEAR: Luttrell Arms, Dunster, Somerset
VALUE PUB OF THE YEAR: Crown & Trumpet, Broadway, Worcestershire
LICENSEE OF THE YEAR: Kathryn Horton, Ostrich, Coleford, Gloucestershire
BREWERY OF THE YEAR: Harveys, Lewes, East Sussex
PUB GROUP OF THE YEAR: Cirrus Inns represented by The Epicurean Collection
The guide’s dedicated website www.thegoodpubguide.co.uk supplies information on all the pubs in the new guide from publication plus 42,000 other pubs across the country.