The Best Gastropubs in the North West

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.

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.

The Parker’s Arms is a homely pub, serving and baking extraordinary, modern European food.

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.

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.

The big, first-floor window at the rear of Andrew Nutter’s Bird At Birtle frames the moors – and this gastropub is an ode of sorts to its impressive, rural location.

The Eagle & Child is famous for offering excellent Sunday lunches and award-winning pub grub in the hills above Manchester.

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.