UK's best pub has been named as top 100 for 2025 unveiled

The Good Food Guide has revealed the institution topping its inaugural 100 Best Pubs in the UK list: a north English haven that’s been serving up pints for more than a century.

In 2024, 412 pubs closed up shop, leaving fewer than 39,000 in operation in England and Wales. 56 closed permanently in Scotland last year, too - spelling a dire time for the hospitality industry.

But it isn’t just the UK that has suffered. Pub closures in Ireland increased to 128 annually between 2019 and 2024, as per a report commissioned by the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland (DIGI).

In an attempt to revive the humble pub and drive punters back through their local’s doors, The Good Food Guide has published its first-ever Best Pubs list.

The best 100 pubs in the UK have been crowned by The Good Food Guide (Getty Stock Image)

The team behind the handbook has scoured England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland for the cream of the crop - and the results are finally in.

Backed by Timothy Taylor's Landlord, Tracklements, and Koffmann's Potatoes, the first prize has been awarded to Leeds’ The Highland Laddie.

Situated on Cavendish Street, close to Hanover Park and Leeds City College, the West Yorkshire establishment is billed as a Scottish-inspired ‘drinkers pub with a dining room’.

First launched way back in 1925, The Highland Laddie reopened in April 2025 under new owners Sam Pullan and Nicole Deighton.

“The Highland Laddie is a pub of two halves – turn left into the bar and be greeted by brass fittings twinkling in the sun and the red glow of a vintage Guinness tap box on the bar, echoing the red and black colour scheme of the textured-wallpapered walls and ceiling,” the Good Food Guide explained.

The Highland Laddie is Britain's best pub, as per the inaugural guide (Instagram/@thehighlandladdie)

“Small round tables line the triangular room where you can fit about four people and their pints, empties, and a couple of bar snacks (possibly six if you're close acquaintances, or one of them is telling a particularly good story).”

Chloë Hamilton, the editor of The Good Food Guide, said that its 100-strong list was compiled after extensive research.

"We went searching for the pubs that nail the drinking and dining side of the equation," he said.

"It turns out the harder you look, the more you find, and they're not all hidden away in the Cotswolds. The Highland Laddie – a city-centre slam dunk – is a very good case in point.”

The Highland Laddie owners brought the pub back to life this April (Handout)

Speaking about their win, the proprietors said: "We are all absolutely over the moon to be recognised as The Good Food Guide's No. 1 pub in Britain! We are even more thrilled to be flying the flag for Leeds and Yorkshire.”

The Highland Laddie is the only Leeds-based pub to make the list, but it is in good company with other Yorkshire favourites such as The Abbey Inn, The Pipe & Glass, and Harome’s The Star Inn.

London institutions like The Tamil Crown and The Camberwell Arms have been honoured, as well as Devon favourites such as The Bull Inn, situated in Totnes, The Cornish Arms in Tavistock, and Lydford’s The Dartmoor Inn.

A handful of Northumberland pubs have made the Good Food Guide 100 Best British Pubs List - The Rat Inn, a gastropub north of Hexham, The Kirkstyle Inn & Sportsman’s Rest near Slaggyford, and The Ship Inn, an 18th-century village local situated just 50 yards from the North Sea, among others.

Other highlights include runner-up, Fife’s The Kinneuchar Inn, The Radnor Arms in Kent, and Inn at The Sticks, based in Carmarthenshire.

Good Food Guide 100 Best Pubs in the UK full list

1. The Highland Laddie, Leeds
2. The Kinneuchar Inn, Fife
3. The Merry Harriers, Surrey
4. The Beckford Arms, Wiltshire
5. The Radnor Arms, Kent
6. Greyhound Inn, Pettistree, Suffolk
7. The Pelican, London
8. The Abbey Inn, North Yorkshire
9. Inn at The Sticks, Carmarthenshire
10. The Pack Horse, Hayfield, Derbyshire
11. The Eagle, London
12. The Barrington Boar, Somerset
13. The Sun Inn, Dedham, Essex
14. The Kerfield Arms, London
15. The Broad Chare, Newcastle – Readers’ Choice Award
16. Church House Inn, Devon
17. The Killingworth Castle, Oxfordshire
18. The Felin Fach Griffin, Powys
19. The Gunton Arms, Norfolk
20. The Plough, Rye, East Sussex
21. The Bath Arms at Longleat, Somerset
22. The Parakeet, London
23. The Rat Inn, Northumberland
24. The White Hart Inn, Essex
25. The Pipe & Glass, East Yorkshire
26. The Bull Charlbury, Oxfordshire
27. The Farmers Arms, Devon
28. The Devonshire, London
29. Hop Pole Inn, Somerset
30. The Waterman’s Arms, London
31. White Horse Holme, Norfolk
32. The Olive Branch, Rutland
33. The Old Wharf Inn, West Midlands
34. The Star Inn, Harome, North Yorkshire
35. The George at Burpham, West Sussex
36. Fox & Hounds, Hertfordshire
37. Tichborne Arms, Hampshire
38. The Bull Inn, Totnes, Devon
39. The Parkers Arms, Lancashire
40. The Woolpack Inn, Gloucestershire
41. The Double Red Duke, Oxfordshire
42. The Cat Inn, West Sussex
43. The Canton Arms, London
44. The General Tarleton, North Yorkshire
45. The Anchor, Walberswick, Suffolk
46. The Camberwell Arms, London
47. The Brisley Bell, Norfolk
48. The Swan, Suffolk
49. The Riverside at Aymestrey, Herefordshire
50. The White Horse, Brancaster Staithe, Norfolk
51. The Kirkstyle Inn & Sportsman’s Rest, Northumberland
52. The Grove Inn, Devon
53. The White Hart, Fyfield, Oxfordshire
54. The Silver Cup, Hertfordshire
55. The Anglesea Arms, Hammersmith, London
56. Heathcock, Cardiff
57. The Feathers Inn, Northumberland
58. The Anchor & Hope, London
59. The Taybank, Perthshire & Kinross
60. The Queens Arms, Somerset
61. Hare & Hounds, Glamorgan
62. Applecross Inn, Highlands
63. The Punch Bowl Inn, Cumbria
64. The Clachan Inn, Dumfries & Galloway
65. The Bull Freehouse, Troston, Suffolk
66. The Exmoor Forest Inn, Somerset
67. The Ship Inn, Northumberland
68. The Bell at Selsley, Gloucestershire
69. The Tamil Crown, London
70. The Millbrook Inn, Devon
71. The Drunken Duck Inn, Cumbria
72. The Bull’s Head, Herefordshire
73. Dylan’s at The Kings Arms, Hertfordshire
74. St Kew Inn, Cornwall
75. The Pilgrim, Buckinghamshire
76. The Howard Arms, Warwickshire
77. The White Horse, Churton, Cheshire
78. The Alford Arms, Hertfordshire
79. The Plough, Bolnhurst, Bedfordshire
80. The Cotley Inn, Somerset
81. The Cornish Arms, Tavistock, Devon
82. Kilchrenan Inn, Argyll & Bute
83. The Red Lion, Isle of Wight
84. The Greyhound Inn, Letcombe Regis, Oxfordshire
85. The Halfway at Kineton, Gloucestershire
86. The Crown, Hastings, East Sussex
87. The Bonnie Badger, East Lothian
88. The Owl Hawnby, North Yorkshire
89. The Blind Bull, Little Hucklow, Derbyshire
90. The Surprise, London
91. The Leicester Arms, Kent
92. The Old Eyre Arms, Derbyshire
93. The Dartmoor Inn, Lydford, Devon
94. The Longs Arms, Wiltshire
95. The New Inn, Herefordshire
96. The Duck at Yeoford, Devon
97. White Horse, Lincoln, Lincolnshire
98. The Gurnard’s Head, Cornwall
99. The Manor House Inn, Somerset
100. . The Bunch of Grapes, Pontypridd, Wales