Southrop Restaurant Guide

“Excellent pub food, ambience and service” are on offer at this elevated Cotswolds village boozer (fka The Mason’s Arms) from the experienced team of owner Antony Griffith Harris and chef Nick Anderson, who first worked together 35 years ago. It’s a handy watering and feeding hole for the Chipping Norton set, and for escapees from Soho Farmhouse, a couple of miles away.

This “great Cotswolds gastropub” is a well-known watering-hole near Chipping Norton, with “excellent, hearty and delicious cooking”, “majoring in wood-fired dishes” including scallops in the half shell, iceberg lettuce, giant tiger prawns, gurnard fillets and Barnsley chop. Matt & Katie Beamish took over from GBM winner Emily Watkins a couple of years ago.

With its “absolutely top-rate food” and “very attentive service”, Solanche & Richard Craven’s “friendly” operation on the northern edge of the Cotswolds “never fails to delight”. “Richard’s cookery is always spot on” and “his love of game always shines through in the dishes he serves up” in the “light, modern-built dining area attached to the ancient pub”. Top Menu Tip – “ox tongue and doe steak just melt in the mouth”.

The “great food and amazing service” are everything you would expect at this deluxe Cotswolds gastropub handy for the Chipping Norton set and owned by Lady Bamford, chatelaine of Daylesford Organic (which supplies much of the produce) and hostess of BoJo’s post-prime ministerial wedding bash. It all comes, of course, “at a fairly significant price”. Sam Bowser, the latest chef to head the kitchen, did a stint as the Bamfords’ private chef a few years back.

Lady Bamford (wife of JCB heir, Anthony Bamford) opened this chic farm shop and café near the family’s 1,500 acre Cotswold estate about twenty years ago (and later on, spin offs in London). Fans love it, declaring: “it may have a reputation for being pricey, but the interiors are great and the food is just not as expensive as you might expect, given the exquisite perfection of the place”. Critics can’t get over the lack of value though: “the popularity is undeserved: it is just an out-and-out very expensive tourist trap”.

“Excellent seafood in the unlikely named Old Butchers” is the calling card of Pete & Louise Robinson’s long standing Stow venue, most of it delivered from Cornwall. “All the food served is of a very high standard” – even if arguably “the simple ambience doesn’t match the cooking”.

“Reliable old-school inn”, “in a charming if chilly corner of the Cotswolds”, that “still feels like you’re in the country and not a London trattoria!”. The food may not offer “fireworks”, but it excels for dishes such as “asparagus bang in season with egg and hollandaise”, complemented by “lovely service”.

This 350-year-old, Cotswold-stone former malthouse makes a “great setting” for a “smallish but very enjoyable menu”. These days it’s “more of an upmarket restaurant than a pub” under chef Matt Weedon (ex-Lords of the Manor and Glenapp Castle) – “and the prices reflect this”, starting at £29 for the wagyu burger, with a 6-course tasting menu at £80.

“The dining room is a lovely room… the service is attentive… the food is interesting and very good” – this gorgeously located manor house hotel (part of the Brownsword group) receives nothing but praise in our annual diners’ poll, including for Nick Chappell’s accomplished three-course menu.

“High-quality pub food” and a “lovely setting by the river” earn high ratings across the board for this traditional Cotswolds inn. “On a brilliant sunny bank holiday Saturday, The Swan was rammed but the amazing staff never missed a beat – the chef & kitchen churned out really delicious food, and nobody was less than delighted with their choices”. Top Tip – “the sticky toffee reaches new heights of orgasmic satisfaction”.

Opened in June 2021, this ‘micro-restaurant in the Cotswolds’ offers an ambitious tasting experience to no more than 11 people at a time. No feedback as yet in our annual diners’ poll, but Marina O’Loughlin of the Sunday Times paid an early visit saying: “I can’t remember the last time I had such an assured ten-course tasting menu with wines – even a martini each – where the bill didn’t cost north of a ton a head”.

This ivy-clad 16th-century Cotswold pub in north Oxfordshire has been taken over by the duo behind the Pelican in Notting Hill, James Gummer and Phil Winter, who grew up in the village. Smartly refurbed with 10 guest rooms, its kitchen cooks local produce over an open fire.

“A fantastic option in this Cotswolds village” that’s part of an old inn (with rooms) in the heart of the town that was given an attractive refit a couple of years ago. Despite some pub associations, the food is very much restaurant fare from a two-course or three-course menu.

“Very San Francisco vibes here… and that’s meant as a compliment!” – this funky haunt has become “very popular”, especially for brunch. Top Tip – the “best seats are in the corner at the back!”