Meriden, British, Traditional Restaurant Guide

This enticing multi-cuisine spread at a country estate hotel near Watford is a real bargain at £74 per person (£94 per person on Friday dinner and at weekends) – “if I win the lottery I’ll be here every week”. There’s an impressive array of ‘stations’ to mix-and-match, from sushi, robata grill and Asian, via seafood, roast meats, live pasta, stone-baked pizza and salad bar to cheese & charcuterie, vegan and dessert. All-in-all, it makes for an experience that is entertaining and fun for all the family, if not necessarily very foodie.

This “lovely old pub” in the Chilterns, handy for the Harry Potter antics at Warner Bros Studio nearby, built up quite a reputation for its Anglo-French cooking over nearly two decades under husband-and-wife team Sally & Alvin Michaels. The 18th-century venue is now managed by Alvin’s former protégé Matt Jackson (and part of the growing RedCat pub company) but, on limited feedback this year, its “exceptional pub dining” still makes it a local magnet.

“This wonderful neighbourhood restaurant with seriously good seasonal cooking” and “a relaxed, friendly environment” was launched back in 2011 by Terry Wogan’s daughter Katherine and her husband Henry – and is “still the very best in the area after all these years”, with “impeccable service from staff who are charming and helpful”. Top Tip – “Sunday lunch is sublime”.

“A cut above the average chippy” for several decades – this stalwart Muswell Hill fixture was sold in 2024 to the Herts-based Chesterford Group, a century-old family firm with 38 fish’n’chip shops across southern England. “The change of ownership, while widely lamented, has actually given a bit of a fillip to an offering that was getting a bit relaxed” – “the chips seem better, maybe more frequent oil changes”, while “the fish is as fresh as you’d hope from a place with such a high turnover”. It’s “not just your usual fish shop classics” here: “grilled and gluten-free” options are available, and “the wine list is OK, too”. Top Menu Tip – “the grilled plaice fillets are truly magnificent”.

2024 Review: This “hidden gem” – a picture-book Grade II-listed Georgian tavern down a Hampstead side street – is “a great place to take the day off work”, particularly “now the food has been improved”.

A “classic English pub” that advertises itself as Britain’s oldest no less, and whose 900-year-old walls have welcomed more than their fair share of TV and film crews (‘The Theory of Everything’, ‘Hot Fuzz’ and ‘Midsomer Murders’ were all shot there, the latter lending its name to their chicken pie). The menu takes in hearty soups, steaks and other pubby fare – and “what a fab atmosphere – it makes the food taste better”. Top Tip – if you want to compensate for the calories, the location offers “good post-meal walking options across fields and woods”.

Dining in a large annex – originally built as an Edwardian ballroom – boosts the occasion at this “favourite Archway local”, which serves “proper pub food and drink” of an elevated nature, with a “reliably interesting” menu of a Mediterranean bent. It is “well-priced for the standard”, with “attentive service”, but can be “noisy”.

“Cosy”, large tavern just off Acton Green on the fringe of Chiswick, with some fine late-Victorian features, and whose menu has a somewhat “sophisticated” Mediterranean spin. There’s a small rear garden in summer that opens off its characterful rear dining room (though you can also eat in the bar).

2024 Review: “This upmarket local café” with artistic leanings in Primrose Hill has a “great vibe, relaxed-yet-warm service and consistently good food”. Founded by actor Sam Frears and novelist Andrew O’Hagan, who live nearby, it has an artist-in-residence programme and hosts readings, live music and community supper clubs.

For “boozy lunches and elbows-on-the-table guzzling”, Tom Conran‘s Irish-themed ‘Guinness-and-oysters’ pub on the fringe of Notting Hill is hard to beat; and a pint plus a pint of prawns or other seafood platter helps fuel the excellent craic. In addition to plentiful crustacea, there’s a solid choice of “good food done well”, with a separate menu in the cute and tiny upstairs dining room.

2023 Review: Cleverly converted from Victorian Grade II listed former stables into a faux-rustic gastroboozer, this Camden Town yearling has “a lovely atmosphere, looking out into buzzy Camden Market”, and serves a “high-quality” menu of British comfort-food classics which are “a cut above your usual pub fare”. There’s also a hidden courtyard with a fire pit, and a good selection of locally brewed beers.

“A cheese-inspired fever dream (but definitely not a nightmare) for cheese lovers” – Matthew Carver’s engagingly bonkers double-decker floating restaurant, moored in Paddington Basin, is dedicated to snacks and full meals that celebrate the glories of British cheese. He also has more conventional venues on dry land called Pick & Cheese in Soho and Berlin, and Rind in North Yorkshire.

“The perfect local is full of locals, and this defines The Andover perfectly: a buzzing bar and friendly staff greet you” at this “lively old boozer” in a quiet corner of Hammersmith’s ‘Brackenbury Village’. “Under new ownership for a couple of years now, the food has gone up another level” – somewhat more inventive and “a giant step up from pub grub” (but equally also a little “expensive for a pub”). Top Tip – “Sunday lunch is a must”.

2024 Review: “Great food and drink, especially pizza” makes it worth remembering this stylish (if sometimes noisy) Olympia pub-conversion, a few minutes’ walk from Brook Green (part of the Oak group).

“An Irish pub called the Churchill Arms that has a Thai kitchen inside may sound strange… but it works!” – this big, 18th-century, corner-boozer near Notting Hill Gate catches the attention of passers-by with lavish external “floral displays that are a highlight of the area”; (originally the Bedford Arms, it was renamed after WWII on the basis that the great man’s grandparents used to frequent it). Behind the pub proper sits a large, upbeat dining annex, which for more than 30 years has pioneered the ‘Thai-in-a-pub’ format. “It’s not quite the bargain basement pit-stop it once was” – relatively “unambitious” now, but “full of flavour, never expensive… what’s not to like?”

2023 Review: “Great coffee and an always-buzzy vibe” make it worth remembering this attractive, all-day Marylebone deli/café, which serves a mix of patisserie, cakes, soups, salads and sarnies from breakfast onwards.

Reopened after a £450,000 refurb and extension in May 2024, this venue from Heartwood Inns, founded by Raymond Blanc as the White Brasserie Company, offers a French-influenced menu of more ambition than most gastropubs.

“Top notch – Jackson Boxer’s new opening in W11 is proving to be a huge success”. Formerly his seafood specialist, Orasay (RIP), he closed it at the end of December 2024 and reopened this replacement on the same site in the first week of 2025, promising to cook the earthier, simpler food he wants to eat ‘right now’. Fans say “he’s hitting new heights”, having created “a magic little gem, with sharing plates to drool over”… “delicious, and not as expensive as you’d imagine for the locale and buzz”.

“The newest incarnation of a Chiswick stalwart” – formerly The Crown, before that Carvosso’s, and originally built as a Victorian police station – finally “seems to have really hit its stride” as part of the high-flying JKS group, having previously found success elusive on this large and attractive site right on the high street. Fans say its interior design “shouts well-heeled-pub”, but “the food and service lift it to a higher, warmer level”, and these days it’s “usually packed”. Ratings overall are middling however, and there are a fair number of nearby residents who observe: “it’s a very popular new local… I’ve no idea why!”