Judges name UK's top 50 Gastropubs for 2019

Tanwen Dawn-Hiscox

Tanwen Dawn-Hiscox

Deputy Editor

The 2019 Estrella Damm Top 50 gastropubs list is out, naming the UK’s best places to eat high-quality pub food

Celebrating the Estrella Damm Top 50 gastropubs list’s 10th anniversary, The Sportsman took the crown for the fourth time, while two of Tom Kerridge's restaurants feature on the list.

The top five in the 2019 list are, in the following order: Michelin-starred The Sportsman, in Whitstable, Kent, owned and led by self-taught head chef, Stephen Harris; Tom Kerridge’s Marlow establishment, The Coach, in Buckinghamshire; Chef-owner Steven Smith’s Freemasons at Wiswell in Clitheroe, Lancaster ; The Star Inn in Harome, York, run by chef owner Andrew Pern, and The Harwood Arms, Brett Graham’s two Michelin-starred in Fulham, London.

The annual awards are judged by a selection of food critics and journalists, gastropub owners, executive chefs, development chefs, front of house managers and suppliers.

As well as the Top 50 list, judges decide on who they think was the year’s best front of house team, who was the country’s best gastropub chef, and which new gastropub has excelled within the first years of its opening.

The front of house team of the year award went to The Punch Bowl Inn at Crosthwaite, in Cumbria, Steven Smith was crowned this year’s gastropub chef of the year and the newcomer of the year went to The Boat Inn led by chef-patron Liam Dillon.

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Tanwen Dawn-Hiscox

Tanwen Dawn-Hiscox

Deputy Editor 29th January 2019

Judges name UK's top 50 Gastropubs for 2019