Our Top 5 Pubs in The Cotswolds 2024
The Bull, Charlbury
It was only a few days ago that this outstanding pub was added to the Bib Gourmand, Michelin Guide list for 2024. The duo behind The Pelican in London have returned home to the Cotswolds to open this 16th Century pub that oozes character and boasts flagged floors, timbered ceilings, plenty of exposed Cotswold stone and twin open fires. There is a relaxed and intimate feel to the place, and an understated quality to the simple, traditional cooking. Dishes like cured trout with green tomatoes use first-rate ingredients and deliver bags of flavour. Dining here is a hearty, satisfying experience, promoting a true to farm to fork experience with produce being grown in the same village.
The Bar, The Bull, Charlbury
The Fox, Oddington
A firm favourite of ours, for Sunday lunches, mid week evening suppers or lunchtime cocktails. It’s a very family friendly pub and the food is always top notch. The staff are always kind, chatty and recognise familiar faces, it’s a very popular pub for tourists, but locals are always saved a table or two. The garden is beautiful in the summer and the roaring fires make it difficult to leave in the winter months. This is is the second pub/restaurant from the Bamford Group who swiftly followed in the success of their first fine dining pub/restaurant The Wild Rabbit in Kingham.
The Parlour, The Fox, Oddington
The Swan, Ascott under Wychwood
This 16th-century timbered inn, complete with inglenook fireplaces, reclaimed wooden floors, and a large central bar, has become highly regarded with locals and visitors alike. Set within the bucolic Cotswold countryside, surrounded by endless rolling fields and a winding River Evenlode, this pub with rooms is in an idyllic location. Alongside this, though, is a restaurant serving exceptionally good food, a wine cellar to rival most major hotels, and a beer garden that buzzes with bees and locals in summer. A must visit!
The Garden Room, The Swan, Ascott under Wychwood
The Swan, Southrop
Just a short stroll from Thyme Hotel, The Swan sits at the heart of the village of Southrop adjacent to the green. The Swan pub belongs to the hotel and has long drawn in famous faces such as Kate Moss and her clan. Its recorded history dates back as far as 1606 when it was known as the Bakehouse, serving bread and ale to the farm workers. The Swan is characterised by low-slung ceilings, roaring fires and a spacious garden room - now known as The Carousal. The higgledy-piggledy wooden furniture combined with bright stripes and Bertioli fabrics make the perfect setting for cosy feasting and good times.
The Bar, The Swan, Southrop
Bull, Burford
Unlike it’s predecessors, this is no pub. It is an eating experience like no other in The Cotswolds, and that’s why it has to appear in this list. The brainchild of Matthew Freud, a ‘curious coaching inn’ as the sign hanging outside reads, this certainly is. It is a hotel with 4 high end and imaginitive restaurants. HIRO, a Japanese omakase restaurant serving a 10 course tasting menu. WILD a communal restaurant where all the food, which is locally produced, is cooked over fire. HORN for parties and Sunday lunches which is a beautiful, family friendly restaurant. HERD, another private dining room with an open fireplace, a roaring fire, newspapers and chess. With the most impressive artwork you have seen and a poker room in the basement, this hotel simply has to be seen to be believed.
The Herd, Bull, Burford