Wallingford, British, Traditional Restaurant Guide

2022 Review: “Some pubs in the Cotswolds really go above and beyond, and this is one of them” – Steven Sanderson’s 400-year-old thatched village boozer with rooms (and garden) offers “lots of interesting small dishes as well as the usual suspects” (notably grass-fed British steak).

2022 Review: “This superb gastropub” – an eighteenth-century inn “two minutes from the Thames and convenient for London day-trippers” – serves “interesting food with some high gastronomy”: “all produce is locally sourced, and bread made and butter churned in-house”. Husband-and-wife patrons Nick & Mary Galer (both ex-Fat Duck Group) “clearly care about what they do and look after their diners”. Ratings dropped a notch this year amid reports of “the odd off note” – possibly they “need a bit more practice after lockdown”.

2024 Review: This “very old pub in a great location next to Henley Bridge” has been a scenic boozer for yonks, but now comes in a “fabulous new incarnation”, having been taken over by seasoned restaurateurs Matt Dockray and Phil Renner, who relaunched in late 2022. The hugely stylish interior (not least in the vaulted dining room, strewn with trinkets) makes it a “great place for a first date”, and there are positive early reports on the elevated pub classics by head chefs Joshua Wilde and George O’Leary – both previously senior sous-chefs at Tom Kerridge’s Marlow joints The Coach, and The Hand and Flowers.

Basque-influenced cuisine – much of it from the charcoal grill – is now the order of the day at this “beautifully situated” pub, deep in the back-of-beyond of West Berkshire (in fact quite close to the M4, though you’d never know). The days when it was famous for its game dishes are gone – today you will discover an assortment of tapas plus more substantial fare – from Catalan fish stew to ‘12 Hour Lamb Shoulder’. Fans say it’s "really lovely” and “very well executed”. On the downside, one or two old timers can’t get with it. (“I really want to like this pub, I have been coming for years and its situation and ambience is idyllic, quintessential English countryside. But the prices are expensive and the tapas-style small plates and mains to share just aren’t that inviting”).

This Oxford-fringe institution is “the perfect country pub for all seasons: thatched roof, low beams, fire, cosy interior, extensive garden” – and is just a quarter-hour walk from the city centre in a beautiful, leafy and peaceful location in Binsey, close to the Thames (known locally as the Isis) and Port Meadow. It’s not an overtly foodie destination, but “the menu has everything you’d hope for from a country pub, plus some extra surprise treats (quails eggs, pork belly and apple mustard)”.