by Pork belly at Packhorse, Peak District
Last November a group of us took a trip to the Peak District to celebrate my dad’s 60th birthday. We booked the Packhorse Inn in Little Longstone for the celebration dinner, just off the famous Monsal Trail. The pub sources all of its produce locally and changes its menu monthly. When we arrived we were greeted with roaring fireplaces and menu delights including pork belly with black pudding and mustard mash, game pie and a top-notch sticky toffee pudding. It was worth it, although in the end we had to walk a muddy road home through fields of cows in complete darkness.
eloise
Guinness and seafood, County Antrim
O’Connors Bar in Ballycastle is a traditional, low-ceilinged Irish bar, with a cozy log fire and great food and drink. The menu is extensive and uses local produce, especially excellent seasonal seafood and the freshest daily specials. Guinness is perfect too. Local drinkers, family groups, visitors and international tourists fill the bar and corners. The food, drink, service and atmosphere combine to make this my favorite pub to eat at.
aileen
Advice from Guardian Travel readers
Every week we ask our readers for recommendations from their trips. A selection of advice will be presented online and may appear in print. To enter the latest contest, visit the Reader Tips home page.
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A game of pool and a daring cocktail, Perth and Kinross
The Muirs Inn, Kinross, between Edinburgh and Perth, near Loch Leven, was the scene of an evening of two halves. Firstly, a warm and welcoming glass-enclosed dining room with lots of light greeted us to enjoy exquisite dishes including flaky, chunky cod in a Mediterranean tomato and caper stew, and beer-battered North Sea haddock with shortbread biscuits. to end. The second half featured a game of pool and a cheeky cocktail in the traditional part of the pub next door. Wonderful owner, excellent service and interesting prices.
Sophie
Free Polish Sausage and Pudding, Wolverhampton
It’s almost impossible to pick a favorite pub, but the Stile Inn on Harrow Street stands out from the crowd. Draft beer from local banks and a unique menu of authentic Polish food: homemade pierogi, Polish sausage, goulash, grilled pork steak… this is not found everywhere. If there are more than four you get a free pudding and the portions are huge – takeaway boxes are standard. It may be on a back street in Wolverhampton, but you’ll be made to feel welcome – they regularly host charity nights and serve a special lunch on Christmas Day so no one has to spend it alone.
Sara Collings
Eclectic menu, Staffordshire
The Black Lion Inn in the Staffordshire Peak District serves a completely delicious and eclectic menu in the beautiful and “doubly grateful” village of Butterton. Hannah and Matt’s locally sourced menu is a delight and the Sunday lunch (£16) is hugely memorable (I’ll be thinking about the celery mash for a while!), as is the incredibly delicious beetroot burger and tofu (£13.50). ). Think spacious, relaxing tables, flagstone floors, whitewashed walls and cozy wood-burning stoves make it hard to leave the old inn, but luckily there are also rooms upstairs to rest for a while.
Steph Woodhouse
A flood of flavour, Bosham, West Sussex
After an invigorating walk along the Chichester Harbor shoreline, fill up on hearty food at Anchor Bleu in Bosham, overlooking the ebb and flow of the tide. Defrost in the cozy downstairs living room with its fireplace or in the spacious upstairs space for great views of the harbor birds. Enjoy comforting pub food, Sunday lunches and fresh local fish. After lunch, explore the pretty village of Bosham with its Holy Trinity Church, depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry, but park carefully or you will find your car inundated by the tide, which floods the road in front of the harbor twice a day.
Cathy Robinson
Perfect for dark nights, Llanarmon, Wrexham
The Hand at Llanarmon in the Ceiriog Valley has all the attributes of a great pub to eat in, especially when the dark nights arrive. It has wonderful antique beams, a roaring fire and mismatched solid wood furniture, and you feel like you’re in a million. miles away from anywhere while the wind howls outside. Specials change regularly and include a delicious roasted and marinated Welsh lamb rump served with red wine dates, grilled sea bass with samphire and leek risotto and blue cheese.
Brand
Ferry Party, Isle of Wight
The Wheatsheaf has a proudly quirky design style, with lights made from vintage diving helmets and a wooden parrot over the bar (watch your head!), among much more. The regularly changing menu features Isle of Wight produce cooked by chefs who really know what they’re doing. Mains include slow-cooked, fried Isle of Wight beef shanks and an excellent sweet potato, chickpea and spinach curry. The evening mains are almost all under £20, or go at lunchtime and pick up a huge homemade fish roll for a tenner. The pub is located next to the ferry terminal connecting the island with Lymington, Hampshire.
Cat
Related: 10 of Britain’s best pubs with rooms in a spectacular pedestrian zone
Moor Please, South Devon
Walking across Dartmoor in the freezing fog of New Year’s Day, my companions and I, with muddy boots and cold noses, fell upon the Warren House Inn. While our Warrener’s pies (soft, supple and delicious rabbit, £16.50) were cooking, we thawed them by the fire, which has supposedly been burning since 1845. Moorland farms supply much of their produce; Their Dartmoor beef is rich and silky, the beers are great. Later, once again on the empty moor now shrouded in the mist of twilight, we fought the temptation to return through the Warren Gate into the warmth and welcome of the interior.
harriet
Winning tip: snoozing dogs, Lake District
The 300-year-old Blacksmiths Arms, near Broughton Mills in the South Lakes, looks like one of the last of a dying breed, a pub that lives up to a collective nostalgic image of what a pub should be: stone floors, rough wood. tables, low beamed ceilings, a roaring fireplace, locals chatting at the bar. Nothing extra, no kitschy decor, just an overwhelming feeling of familiarity and comfort. Delicious home-cooked food with a contemporary (but unpretentious) twist at affordable prices. I spent an afternoon there, with the autumn light streaming in, the dog sleeping at our feet, incredibly grateful that a place like this still exists. The evening mains are good value: aubergine tagine with salad and new potatoes for £12.95, for example.
clear
