When I first read about this year’s winner, I smiled. A Japanese izakaya, inside a Victorian boozer, in what’s widely recognised as the oldest passenger railway pub in the world. It’s so unlikely, and so British, that it could only have happened by accident.
In a way it did. The Queens Arms in Eccles, our Overall Winner for 2026, is run by former accountant Anthony Sit and chef Mr Lo, two Hong Kongers who became friends over a shared love of Japanese food at the school gate. Anthony spotted a For Sale sign by chance, and together they restored the Grade II-listed building and reopened it in 2025. It has gone down a storm with locals as well as expats grateful for a flavour of the Japanese comforts so widely enjoyed across Hong Kong. Nobody planned that mix. The pub simply made room for it.
That’s what I love about this list. Now in its second year, and in partnership with Timothy Taylor’s Landlord, the 100 Best Pubs draws on more than 20,000 reader nominations across eight regions, with 36 new entries joining a strong line-up of returning favourites. You’ll find star-rated kitchens alongside locals leaning at the bar enjoying a pint, and it shouldn’t be any other way.
I won’t pretend it’s easy out there. Many of our winners are still open because their regulars refused to let them close. The Hop Pole Inn at Limpley Stoke was saved from conversion into housing by its villagers, and it’s now the pride of the community. The Candover in Hampshire was rescued from residential development by three locals. Seeing people put their own money and time into the pub down the road is humbling.
The Reader’s Choice award tells a similar story. Our readers voted overwhelmingly for the Compasses Inn in Wiltshire, where locals are encouraged to bring in homegrown veg and freshly shot game in exchange for credit behind the bar. It’s a lovely reminder that a great pub is a place where people give as well as take.
I was struck, too, by how many of these pubs are run by people who’ve come home. George Talbot is back at the Red Lion in Brinkley, where he pulled his first pint. Tommy Banks once washed pots at the Abbey Inn at Byland, long before he took it on himself. Few industries still let you rise from the pot wash to the proprietor’s seat, but pubs quietly do.
Resilience runs through the list, sometimes quite literally. Six of our pubs have survived fires. When flames tore through The Star Inn at Harome, staff rescued its much-loved furniture as the roof burned overhead. The pub’s subsequent refurbishment was smart yet subtle, restoring it to all the warmth and welcoming charm it had before.
Then there are the old timers returning to form. The Cow in Notting Hill, long a favourite of celebrities, shot up to second place thanks to superb pub classics from a tiny kitchen behind the bar. And in the village of Newton, Cambridgeshire, the ancient Queen’s Head, run by the Short family for more than half a century, makes its debut on the strength of being a proper pub, first and foremost, with simple, comforting food such as its famous roast beef sandwiches. Great cooking doesn’t have to be complicated. It just has to be done with care, over and over.
The industry is still adapting to what it now takes to run a hospitality business in Britain, but this list shows me that some of the best food and hospitality we have is found in pubs.
So pick one near you, or one worth a journey, and order a pint. Cheers.
