The Best Pubs Near Aquitania, by the Record
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Rank 1. Anglesey Arms
British Pub
Sitting on the Goodwood Estate, this West Sussex pub draws walkers, golfers, and devoted regulars who rarely bother with the menu because they already know it cold. The kitchen runs British classics alongside modern bistro dishes and a run of small plates for grazers, while the bar keeps cask ales, lagers, and low-alcohol options. Cosy enough that staying for one more round barely feels like a decision.
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Rank 2. The Horse Guards Inn
British Pub
Oak beams, stripped floorboards, and a vegetable patch that shapes the menu: this South Downs gastropub changes its kitchen list daily based on what's growing, foraged, or sourced from nearby suppliers. The cooking is serious without the pub having forgotten it's a pub. Three en-suite rooms upstairs make it a reasonable excuse to stay the night and pretend you live somewhere quieter than you do.
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Wednesday's open mic night has been running longer than most local bands have been alive, and that's the clue to what Chaplin's is. This Boscombe pub won the Great British Pub Awards' Best Community Pub in 2025, and it earns the tag: live music five nights a week, colourful décor, a garden heading toward wedding-venue status, and a crowd that treats the place less like a bar and more like a second living room.
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Rank 4. The Merry Harriers
British Pub
Old oak beams, a roaring fire, and a menu that changes daily depending on what came off the farm that morning. The Merry Harriers is a proper country gastropub in the Surrey Hills, the kind that's been around forever but got a serious kitchen upgrade when the current team took over. Shepherd's pie uses lamb they raised themselves, the wine list is quietly considered, and local ales share the bar with an actual cocktail list. Fifteen rooms mean you can stay.
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Rank 5. The Star Inn
Beer Bar
A nano brewery in an outbuilding, mead on tap, and a beer garden with a fire pit that stays open whatever the weather: this is a real-ale pub in the Surrey town of Godalming that takes its cask seriously. The team has run it for years and the regulars have clearly noticed, packing the place reliably. It took the Greene King Pub of the Year at the 2025 Great British Pub Awards.