The pub, which has 75 covers and six bedrooms as well as bar and restaurant, is currently ranked number 22 on the Estrella Damm Top 50 gastropubs list, has been taken over by Matt and Katie Beamish, following a deal brokered by Colliers International.
The pair, who have worked with Raymond Blanc, Jamie Oliver and Fergus Henderson in hotels across the country, had been searching for a foodie pub in the Cotswolds for several years. “We took our time to find the right one and this is it,” says Matt.
The couple say they don’t intend to introduce many changes to the pub, made famous by Watkins, who has worked at The Fat Duck, won Great British Menu with her fish dish in 2014 and appeared as a judge on the BBC2 TV show the following year.
“It is pretty much there,” says Matt. “We aren’t planning to change a great deal about it other than bringing our personalities and energy to freshen it up a little.”
“What we are hoping to do is open the doors to villagers and people in the area and inviting them to come and say hello.”
Watkins and her husband opened The Kingham Plough in 2007, and it has since won numerous awards. It entered at number 15 in the 2015 Top 50 Gastropubs list and was named the 2019 National Dining Pub of the Year in the Good Pub Guide.
“The Kingham Plough is not just a wonderful example of a Cotswolds country pub. It is a highly successful business,” says Peter Brunt, director, hotels agency at Colliers International. “This is possibly the leading example of a successful inn in the heart of the Cotswolds.”
“Having advised Emily Watkins and her husband Miles Lampson for more than a decade in relation to property issues at The Plough I will miss them both very much.”