Good Pub Guide 2019 – Back To Basics?

The 37th edition of the Good Pub Guide has just been released with the editor calling on pubs to ‘ditch the fancy food’ as it’s a turn-off to pub-goers. Rather than going ‘Masterchef-mad’ with foams, fluff and edible sand, the guide calls for a return to ‘good, honest pub grub.’ The question is – does the 21st century pub-goer really want bangers and mash, shepherd’s pie or a ploughman’s lunch?

Second Time Around: Pub of the Year in both 2013 and 2019 for The Cock in Cambridgeshire 

The overall Pub Of The Year 2019 title went to The Cock at Hemingford Grey in Cambridgeshire. It’s the second time around for this beautiful village pub by the Great Ouse as it also picked up the prestigious national award six years ago in 2013. A serial winner of the Cambridgeshire Dining Pub of the Year, The Cock has a restaurant serving English and European food (try their home-made sausages), a selection of local real and a wine list sourced almost entirely from France’s Languedoc-Roussillon region. Visit The Cock website.

Here’s a rundown of the other 2019 award winners:

Dining Pub Of The Year:
Plough, Kingham, Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire

New Pub Of The Year:
Masons Arms, Cirencester, Gloucestershire

Foodie Heaven: Head to Kingham in The Cotswolds for both the Wild Rabbit and The Plough, named Dining Pub of the Year

Own Brew Pub Of The Year:
Grainstore, Oakham, Rutland

Beer Pub Of The Year:
Fat Cat, Norwich, Norfolk

Whisky Pub Of The Year:
Bon Accord, Glasgow

Wine Pub Of The Year:
Woods, Dulverton, Somerset

Gin Pub Of The Year:
Cholmondeley Arms, Malpas, Cheshire

Unspoilt Pub Of The Year:
Flying Childers, Matlock, Derbyshire

Luxury Weekender: Escape to the Lake District and check in to the Drunken Duck near Ambleside, the Inn of the Year 

Town Pub Of The Year:
Old Joint Stock, Birmingham

Country Pub Of The Year:
The Crown Inn, Little Missenden, Bucks

Inn Of The Year:
Drunken Duck, Barngates, Ambleside, Cumbria

Value Pub Of The Year:
Old Castle, Bridgnorth, Shropshire

Licensees Of The Year:
Colin and Teresa Ombler of The Bell, Stratford-Upon-Avon

Brewery Of The Year:
Tring Brewery, Tring, Hertfordshire