When fine-dining feels just too starched and squeaky and your local chain pub carvery just isn’t going to cut it, the gastropub is your food hero. You’ll arrive to a warm welcome and leave with a full belly while knowing that chef takes the provenance of what goes on the plate very seriously indeed.
Below you’ll find the very best gastropubs in the North West, serving the kind of bang on British pub fare that’ll make you want to flop down by the fire, kick off your wellies and whistle Jerusalem.
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ClitheroeMore detailsFreemasons at Wiswell
Cooking goes from strength to strength at the Freemasons at Wiswell in Lancashire’s Ribble Valley. Roaring fires, cast-iron fireplaces and pictures of fantastically proportioned livestock lend a cosy vibe to the renovated cottages which make up what’s been described as the original gastropub.
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BurnleyMore detailsThe White Swan at Fence
Some folk in the village still refer to The White Swan at Fence as The Mucky Duck and you can still order a pint of Timothy Taylor’s at its very pubby bar. But over recent years The Swan has established itself as a destination fine-dining spot thanks to young chef Tom Parker from up the road in Burnley.
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ClitheroeMore detailsParkers Arms
The Parker’s Arms is a homely pub, serving and baking extraordinary, modern European food.
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PrestonMore detailsThe Cartford Inn
This historic coaching house serves adventurous British pub food in poetic configurations. The cooking at The Cartford Inn is by mushroom forager and head chef Chris Bury whose CV includes the Fat Duck and Claridges.
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LydgateMore detailsThe White Hart at Lydgate
The White Hart at Lydgate is a rustic dining pub with an excellent reputation and wine list. Located 700 feet above sea level, where Saddleworth Moor starts, the restaurant is in an impressive former coaching house, and it’s a place for all: there’s a restaurant and brasserie with two AA rosettes, a pub, function areas and a boutique hotel.
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RamsbottomMore detailsEagle & Child
The Eagle & Child is famous for offering excellent Sunday lunches and award-winning pub grub in the hills above Manchester.
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MobberleyMore detailsThe Roebuck Inn
In a little hamlet of cottages just outside Knutsford you’ll find The Roebuck Inn, an 18th-century pub that looks like it fell out of the pages of Country Living magazine. If you’re searching for for rustic, cosy dining with food that’s a level above, it won’t disappoint.
