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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Book Now West Yorkshire
The Moorcock Inn
An astonishing arrival on the Northern culinary scene, The Moorcock Inn serves foraged and regional ingredients in thrilling configurations, catching the eye of national food critics and diners alike.
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Book Now Lancashire
Freemasons 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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Book Now Lancashire
The 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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Book Now Lancashire
Parker’s Arms
The Parker’s Arms is a homely pub, serving and baking extraordinary, modern European food.
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Book Now Lancashire
The Cartford Inn
This historic coaching house serves adventurous British pub food in poetic configurations. Cooking is by mushroom forager and head chef, Chris Bury, whose CV includes the Fat Duck and Claridges, while award-winning suppliers include local wine merchants, D Byrne and Gornall’s dairy, near Preston. The interior, some of which dates back to the 1800s, is packed with wood panels and idiosyncratic artworks while the wider complex takes in glass-clad extensions, an al fresco terrace, and cool, eco-style cabins, integrated into the landscape. A place to get away from it all for a day, or a night – and enjoy some of the best food in the region at the same time.
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Book Now Lydgate
The 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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Book Now Cheshire
The Church Green
The Church Green is Aiden Byrne’s countryside pub where excellent meat comes as standard. Fifty ounce tomahawk, for example, and slow-cooked lamb shoulder pie, are typical dishes at the local legend’s acclaimed gastropub.
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Birtle
Bird At Birtle
The big, first-floor window at the rear of Andrew Nutter’s Bird At Birtle frames the moors – and this gastropub, a sister to Nutters’ restaurant proper – is an ode of sorts to its impressive, rural location.
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Ramsbottom
Eagle & 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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Book Now Cheshire
The Roebuck Inn
Multi-award-winning pub in the Cheshire countryside. Winner of countless ‘best pub’ awards, and established in 1708, the latest incarnation of The Roebuck Inn is owned by Cheshire Cat Pubs. The Grade II Listed building is now a bonafide ‘rustic country inn’ with six bedrooms, a bar, a bistro and a tiered beer garden.