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Pubs with Rooms: The Heart of British Hospitality

A recent article in The New York Times urged readers visiting Britain to stay in a pub if they wanted to ‘get to know the locals’. Astutely, the writer recommended checking out The Good Hotel Guide, and though she listed other sources, none was so selective and considered as the Guide.

The British public house is, indeed, as it always was, a social hub, a place to meet and mingle. But our pubs have come on beyond recognition since the 1940s. In those distant days, when stuffy coaching inns served sweet sherries to ladies in hats, children could not cross the threshold.

Now the Guide’s favourite pubs are family friendly, with bedrooms to rival those of more formal hotels, great bar and restaurant food, craft beers on tap and an extensive wine list, while retaining a warm, relaxed ambience. Social hubs, they are even now environments in which the customer can be a participant rather than a spectator, assuring strangers of a welcome, and, indeed, a chance to chat with the locals over a pint.

Some top picks would include the atmospheric, wisteria-draped, 16th-century Double Red Duke (image above) at Bampton in Oxfordshire, in a picture-postcard Cotswold village. Every detail has been thought of here, from the stylish and generously equipped bedrooms, swish bathrooms, cosy nooks, locally sourced food, wood-fired grill and open kitchen. Quite simply, said our inspector, ‘one of Britain’s best pubs with rooms’.

Close to Kendal yet away from the tourist honeypots of the Lake District, in the Lyth valley, where the damson trees froth with blossom in springtime, The Punch Bowl, Crosthwaite (image above), is a quintessential village pub with nine characterful bedrooms, some with exposed beams, a traditional bar, and modern cooking of ingredients locally farmed and foraged.

If a Cornish fishing village is more to your taste, the Inkin brothers’ Old Coastguard in Mousehole is a study in artful simplicity and laid-back inclusivity. Some bedrooms have a sea view, perhaps a balcony; all have fresh coffee and milk, Bramley toiletries, books to read. You can dine on fish and seafood from the day boat, by the fire. or on the sun deck overlooking a subtropical garden, before walking the nearby South West Coast Path.

The Beckford Group is another brilliant success story. Its four laid-back dining pubs with rooms in the South-West of England pull in the locals along with Londoners taking a weekend break. Launched by hospitality aces Dan Brod, Charlie Luxton and Matt Greenless, The Beckford Arms in Tisbury, Wiltshire, set the template, with short, clever menus, good-value, understated-chic bedrooms and a really buzzy ambience.

Meanwhile, north of the border, the Coorie Inn (image above) in the historic village of Muthill, Perth and Kinross, though it leans towards its restaurant side, can justly claim to offer something for everyone – a bar and lounge with blazing log fires, local beers, comfy sofas, inventive, locally sourced cooking, and Highland walks from the doorstep.

Not to forget Wales… The Angel Hotel, in Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, is a classic Georgian coaching inn with an easy-going ethos. It’s a popular drop-in, with squishy sofas, local ales and ciders, and an all-day menu in the Foxhunter Bar, more formal dining in the Oak Room. American guests will follow in the footsteps of Gregory Peck and director John Huston, who stayed in 1945 on their way to film Moby Dick in Fishguard, and the British-American actress Elizabeth Taylor, who dropped by with Richard Burton in 1963.

See our Editor's Choice: Pubs with Rooms winners here.

Partner announcements

We are pleased to announce that we are partnering with the wonderful Bramley for the next few months. Bramley are known for their naturally fragrant bath and body products, which you’ll find in many of our incredible hotels, crafted with botanical extracts and pure essential oils. See more at bramleyproducts.co.uk.

Quote of the month: “Making exceptional wine takes craftsmanship, respect for nature… and uncompromising attention to detail.” Andrew Weeber, Gusbourne Founder. See more about Gusbourne here.

This year there is no updated print edition of the Guide. Entries have been updated online.

You can still buy a copy of the 46th edition, which was published in October 2022.