St Paul's, British, Modern - Restaurant Guide

This “very special pub in the gorgeous Slad Valley” combines “brilliant cooking” with “an olde worlde country feeling” – it was “Laurie Lee’s hangout and he’s buried in the churchyard opposite”. Owned and run for more than 25 years by the sculptor Daniel Chadwick, it offers a “delicious menu that ranges lightly across influences (Modern European? Modern British? Does it even matter?)” – “every single dish, from olives and charcuterie through to a large plate of perfectly cooked lamb with root vegetables is spot-on” (“we overheard a couple saying they’d driven down from Manchester, which was both insane and understandable!”). Top Menu Tip – “skate with cockles and wild garlic in cider sauce” (Laurie Lee’s Rosie would have loved it).

“My wife and I use this as an excuse for a weekend in Cheltenham once a year!” say fans of this long-established and traditional temple of gastronomy, run by David & Helen Everitt-Matthias since 1987, for which they were amongst the few UK restaurateurs to hold two Michelin stars (which were awarded from 2000-2019, after which they were downgraded to a single star). Fans feel that “the standards here remain as high as ever with cooking that’s innovative (petit fours are always a highlight!)” and “exceptional”. But it was a mixed year in our annual diners’ poll, with some downbeat feedback from former fans (“I have had some fabulous meals at Le Champignon Sauvage, but this meal felt a little tired and I left unlikely to return. Sad because the restaurant has been an icon over the years with exciting, cutting-edge food”). Helen presides over the staff and most accounts say she has been “her usual charming self” but one or two diners felt service “made us feel like intruders”. The “low key and quiet dining room” has always received a mixed press – to critics rather dull, but to fans “comfortable” and “restful”.

2022 Review: In a prime town-centre location, this luxurious hotel (ultimately owned by Superdry founder Julian Dunkerton) is converted from a trio of Georgian townhouses. On limited feedback in this survey, the themes here are the same as in previous years: “attractive setting and good food… but all at a high price”.

2024 Review: “The rotunda is wonderful”, and “can make a visit stand out” at this branch of the ubiquitous chain, which otherwise conforms to type with “food and service that are professional, reliable and entirely anonymous” – “one could eat the same dish every day and find it unvarying, while being treated politely but distantly by the staff”.

2022 Review: Rugby World Cup AND Celebrity MasterChef winner Phil Vickery has opened his own restaurant, with his wife Jules and chef Tom Rains, after a year of running a delivery service, No.3 at Home.

“Always hugely excited to go to Lumiere and always leave amazed” – John & Helen Lowe’s “welcoming” venue in the city-centre, finally won recognition from Michelin in 2023 – “it was a long time coming” as they opened in 2009 – and fans say that “although there are more bells and whistles since the star, the food remains divine”, always “well-designed and both execution and presentation are excellent” (“we think it’s genius, rivalling meals we’ve had in two- and three- star establishments”). You can choose from four, six and ten courses for £85, £135 and £175 per person respectively: “they are superbly balanced, novel in their combinations, minimise waste and make best use of the owners’ produce. And whilst the presentation is excellent, the focus is on the cooking not the image”. “The small room is calm and pleasant, service is enthusiastic and informative… altogether a wonderful place for a meal”.

This “beautiful”, red-brick, 16th-century country pub near Gloucester has long been known for its “excellent food”, cooked these days by chef-patron Mark Block, whose wife Jo-Anne runs the front of house. It’s still very much a locals’ pub, with a snug low-ceilinged bar serving real ale from the barrel.

‘British seafood, Cotswold produce’ is the promise of Gareth Fulford’s small independent near the High Street, where the evening focus is on an à la carte menu (two courses for £58 per person); and where there are also selections for a ‘light lunch’ or a tasting option of six to eight courses for £85 to £100 per person. All the cooking is acknowledged as “very inventive and tasty”.

“Kick back with a plate of fine cheeses and meats and admire the beautiful views” advises a London-based fan of this cosy and informal brasserie central to one of England’s longest established vineyards (planted in 1973). You can also stay here. The food is focused on uncomplicated tapas and at dinner there’s some slightly more substantial dishes, such as a sharing board of grilled steak. Plenty of opportunity to taste their vintages of course, plus those of other vineyards too.

2022 Review: Now that Wild Garlic nearby has converted into rooms, this ambitious and quite well-known venue is Matthew Bearshall’s main operation, wherein all guests enjoy an eight-course tasting menu in a single sitting nightly. It has a hard-to-obtain AA ranking of 3 rosettes, but we didn’t receive reports on it this year, so have left it unrated.

“Everything is cooked to order” using “first-class local produce in wonderful flavour combinations” by chef-patron Gus Ashenford, who trained under the late Michel Roux senior and once cooked for then-Russian President Boris Yeltsin at the Kremlin. He took over this former village tea shop with his wife Kate in 2003, and fans reckon it’s still “the best restaurant for miles around”.

Long-running Cotswold spa hotel (incorporating a 14th-century tithe barn) whose two dining options are led by the Brasserie, which is “highly recommended” for an “enjoyable meal, full of flavour – the hardest part is deciding what to order”. The Hive café/cocktail bar serves an array of small plates, and there’s a 220-acre estate to explore – much of it rewilded in recent years. Top Menu Tip – “cheese soufflé, one of the best ever”.

“Refurbished and reopened by new owners last year, and a great success” – Tom Noest & Peter Creed (owners of Sherborne Arms and the Bell Inn at Langford) relaunched this central gastropub in 2024 and “there is a ‘pubby’ bit and an eating part with a similar feel (woody, cosy and convivial)”. “The cooking is interesting and ambitious, going beyond just gastropub favourites; and service is invariably friendly, helpful and efficient. It’s pretty well everything you want from a neighbourhood restaurant. I just hope Giles Coren’s recent review doesn’t spoil it!” (In his March 2025 review, The Times’s reviewer dubbed it “another glorious, unbeatable food pub… not too poncey, not too pleased with themselves, expressing the right way forward for pub food in a post-pickled eggs and pork scratchings world”).

2022 Review: “A great pleasure that this fine old inn was rescued from dereliction pre-pandemic by the Lucky Onion team”, a design-led Cotswolds operation. “Food has improved considerably and is well-sourced and often original”, with a “good ambience” and “charming stuff” ensuring that the establishment “works well all round”.

“Set in a 17th-century hunting lodge”, this “lovely place to stay and eat” is “beautifully placed in the heart of the Forest of Dean”. There are a range of spaces in which to dine: more formal “dinners are served in the old Verderer’s (Magistrates’) Court Room, with a blazing log fire for atmosphere and warmth”, and some “delicious” offerings on the “limited menu”; the more relaxed Orangery meanwhile turns out “hearty teas with local goodies and good views over the gardens”. They also have cosy Outdoor Dining Dens for small groups which can be booked by the hour. All in all, an “undiscovered gem”.