Good Pub Guide 2016: Horse & Groom at Bourton-on-the-Hill wins Pub of the Year
The Georgian inn which has been run by brothers Will and Tom Greenstock since 2005, beat off 5,000 other pubs in the UK to be crowned Pub of the Year.
The Good Pub Guide, whose 2016 edition is released today, described the country pub, which places food at the heart of its offering and sources produce from its own vegetable patch and a nearby allotment, as a 'handsome Georgian inn with a fine range of drinks, excellent food, friendly staff and lovely views from seats outside; smart bedrooms."
Tom Greenstock said: “Winning the Pub of the Year award is what Will and I have been striving for since we opened 10 years’ ago. We’ve gained recognition through several other awards, but this really is the icing on the cake: it’s the award that every publican dreams of winning”.
Other award winners included Cirrus Inns, named Pub Group of the Year and Kathryn Horton of Ostrich in Coleford, Gloucestershire, named Licensee of the Year.
The release of the guide came with the news that naughty children are the number one complaint in the nation's pubs. The results of a survey of pubs carried out by compilers of the Good Pub Guide 2016 found that children who are left to run around pubs, babies left crying and parents who don't care is the number one bugbear of publicans.
Fiona Stapley, the editor of the Guide, said: "The era of children being seen but not heard, has been consigned to history – and quite right, too. But now that almost all pubs warmly welcome children at all times, the few problem families, whose children run riot, stick out like the proverbial sore thumb. We get more complaints from readers about unruly children than anything else."
The guide also revealed that one in seven pubs are now being run by licencees aged between 25 and 35, almost a quarter more than three years ago.
Good Pub Guide 2016 Award Winners:
- Pub of the Year: Horse & Groom, Bourton-on-the-Hill, Gloucestershire
- Dining Pub of the Year: Bunch of Grapes, Pontypridd, Mid Glamorgan
- New Pub of the Year: Porch House, Stow-on-the-Wold, Cheltenham
- Own Brew Pub of the Year: Grainstore, Oakham, Rutland
- Beer Pub of the Year: Fat Cat, Norwich, Norfolk
- Whisky Pub of the Year: Sligachan Hotel, Sligachan, Isle of Skye
- Wine Pub of the Year: Woods, Dulverton, Somerset
- Unspoilt Pub of the Year: White Lion, Barthomley, Cheshire
- Town Pub of the Year: Wykeham Arms, Winchester, Hampshire
- Country Pub of the Year: Fleece, Bretforton, Worcestershire
- Inn of the Year: Luttrell Arms, Dunster, Somerset
- Value Pub of the Year: Crown & Trumpet, Broadway, Worcestershire
- Licensee of the Year: Kathryn Horton, Ostrich, Coleford, Gloucestershire
- Brewery of the Year: Harveys, Lewes, East Sussex
- Pub Group of the Year: Cirrus Inns represented by the Epicurean Collection
