15 of the best places for a roast dinner in the UK

01.12.2023 - 16:05 / nationalgeographic.com

In Britain, the Sunday roast is sacrosanct. Gathering together around a beautifully cooked joint of meat, with lashings of gravy, vegetables and billowing Yorkshire puddings, is, for many, the weekend’s social highlight. And where better to do to this than the pub? Not only do you avoid the washing-up but, centuries after the French dubbed Brits les rosbifs, you get to enjoy the roast at its most modern. In recent decades, Britain’s best pub chefs have, by focusing on seasonal ingredients, rare-breed meats and painstaking preparations of roast potatoes or root vegetables, brought a fresh glamour to this Sunday afternoon ritual.

Throw in good beer, well-chosen wines and compelling meat-free options, and you have a meal that — in stark contrast to sometimes sad, home-cooked attempts — is a true celebration of British food. Here’s a selection of the best in the game: characterful pubs serving champion roasts.

Cheshire chef Gary Usher’s North West restaurant group, Elite Bistros, serves contemporary dishes elevated by classical cooking skills. His first pub, a convivial village local in rural Cheshire, embodies that rigorous MO. Expect a classy, caramelised apple puree with your stuffed pork Sunday roast while, in its depth of flavour, the beef’s glossy, red wine gravy speaks volubly of patient stock reduction. Roasts from £19.50.

Sustainability is a key tenet at this attractive Whitechapel pub-with-rooms. It supports growers using regenerative farming practices; principles the pub adheres to in its rooftop garden and at its small Deptford farm. Produce from both, found in everything from chutneys to fresh herbs, is woven through its menus. Served with upmarket trimmings, such as squash puree or glazed carrots, Sunday roasts might include pork belly, beef with pommes Anna or a meat-free goat’s cheese, vegetable and mushroom wellington. Roasts from £19.

Sharpen appetites walking the shores of Strangford Lough, then head to this warm, clubbable gastropub. A former farmhouse, its polished wood interior retains several original features: flagstone floors, open fires, a central stove. Among various accompaniments, roasts of Irish beef or regional Mourne lamb are served in a delicious, double-carbs bonus with both mashed and roast potatoes. Two courses, £28.

A boho hive of activity (pottery classes! live jazz!), the Mariner also serves a knock-out roast. Run by the Med restaurant team from neighbouring Brighton, the kitchen brings a cheffy élan to its roast chicken (brined for prime juiciness), or pork (dry-aged to create super-crispy, aerated crackling). Next-level trimmings include grilled hispi cabbage. Laine Brew Co. beers star at the bar (try its Sonar IPA), alongside ales from many of the best Sussex