The Top 26 Places to Drink Near The Sun
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A thatched-roof country pub on the Great River Ouse, The Sun has the kind of postcard exterior that makes you wonder if the food can possibly keep up. It does. The kitchen runs its own farm, so "local ingredients" isn't just menu copywriting here. The bar hatch turns out goat curry and fritto misto alongside pints, while the seasonal tasting menu leans into beef shin, smoked trout, and whatever the farm is doing that week.
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Rank 2. The Five Elms
British
A thatched, two-room country pub on the edge of the Chiltern Hills, with log fires, a dog-friendly bar pouring local ales, and a garden with a play park across the road. The kitchen, run by a Masterchef: the Professionals semi-finalist with time in serious European restaurants, sends out cooking that is considerably more ambitious than the setting suggests. Walkers in muddy boots and families share the room without either group seeming to mind.
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Rank 3. The Silver Cup
Modern British Pub
A gastropub on the Harpenden common that has been pouring pints since the Victorian era, The Silver Cup pairs local ales with modern British cooking that takes seasonal produce seriously. The room is contemporary and relaxed, the kind of place where you can eat well without performing about it. Rooms are available if you'd rather not navigate the train home. It sits in the Top 50 Gastropubs list and is selected by the Michelin Guide.
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Rank 4. The Burleigh Arms
Modern British Pub
A Cambridge gastropub where the head chef's West Indian roots run quietly through an otherwise modern British menu, turning a neighbourhood pub into somewhere you'd actually plan around. The bar side has its own themed cocktail menu, so drinkers aren't an afterthought. Regulars from the surrounding streets mix with people who drove across town, which tells you most of what you need to know.
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Rank 5. The Bull
British Pub
Twin open fires and flagged floors set the tone at this old Cotswold inn turned gastropub, where the kitchen cooks over flame and changes the menu as often as the farmers call. The team behind London's The Pelican came home to Charlbury to restore it, and the terse, ingredient-led dishes feel like the point rather than the ambition. It ranks in the Top 50 Gastropubs and is in the Michelin Guide. Rooms upstairs if you miss the last train.
- Great British Pub Awards 2025 · Best Pub for Food · Great British Pub Awards
- Top 50 Gastropubs 2026 · #28 · Top 50 Gastropubs
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
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Rank 6. The Killingworth Castle
British Pub
A 17th-century stone inn near Blenheim Palace that the owners rescued from dereliction and turned into one of the country's more serious gastropubs. The kitchen bakes its own bread, butchers its own meat, and leans hard on organic sourcing. A bar menu, set lunch, Sunday roast, and tasting menu mean you can pitch your visit anywhere from a quiet pint to a proper occasion. Eight rooms upstairs if you'd rather not drive back to Oxford.
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A pub whose back garden is so large it hosts its own Oktoberfest, sausage toss included. Inside, The Black Pug is a warren of cosy rooms; outside, there's covered seating, an outdoor bar, and enough room for a grumble of actual pugs, which is both the collective noun and, on any given weekend, an accurate headcount. Pizza Monday, Taco Tuesday, and free kids' meals on Friday keep the locals cycling through. Star Pub of the Year at the Great British Pub Awards 2025.
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Rank 8. The Coach
Modern British Pub
A rotisserie turning at the center of the room sets the tone at Tom Kerridge's no-reservations gastropub in Marlow: casual, a little louder than you'd expect from a Michelin-starred room, and genuinely good at sharing plates. Small dishes are the move, and the kitchen makes punchy, satisfying food without the ceremony. Marlow locals come for a pint; others make the trip for the cooking. Either way, the pub holds a Michelin star.
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Rank 9. The Cross
Contemporary British Pub
The dining room here was once a schoolroom, and the hand bell wall lamps haven't let anyone forget it. This Michelin-starred gastropub in a restored Grade II listed inn does serious British cooking, the kind that follows the seasons closely and sources with equal care. The back room looks straight onto the kitchen pass if you want the theatre. The tasting menu is how the kitchen makes its fullest argument.
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Rank 10. The Oarsman
Contemporary British
The wine list here changes weekly, runs to more than 300 bottles, and groups everything by style rather than region, which tells you something about the priorities. This Marlow gastropub holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand and takes its food seriously too, with a daily-changing menu of bistro dishes from an open kitchen and small plates from a charcuterie counter. The part-brick, part-timbered room has an enclosed terrace and the kind of midweek pricing that makes the whole thing feel almost reasonable.
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Rank 11. Hand and Flowers
Modern British Pub
A thatched pub in Marlow with beamed ceilings and two Michelin stars, which sounds like a setup to a joke until the food arrives. Tom Kerridge made his name here turning classic British pub cooking into something considerably more serious, and the kitchen still earns it. The menu stays short enough that everything on it feels considered, and the room stays pubby enough that none of it feels precious.
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Rank 12. The Dog and Pickle
Seafood Pub
Oysters three ways (natural, Rockefeller, tempura) sets the tone early: this is a seafood-leaning gastropub in a quiet Essex village that takes its cooking more seriously than the postcode might suggest. The wood fire runs through much of the menu, from dry-aged beef to Scottish scallops, though beer-battered fish and chips holds its ground alongside the lobster bouillabaisse. The pear tarte tatin with gorgonzola ice cream suggests a kitchen that enjoys keeping you slightly off balance.
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Rank 13. Malmaison Oxford
Cocktail Bar
The cocktail bar at Malmaison Oxford is set inside a former Victorian prison, and the original cell bars are still on the windows. The main bar sits on the third floor in what used to be the visitors room, high-ceilinged and dressed in the plush fabrics and dark furniture the Malmaison group does reliably well. It's the kind of place where the surroundings do most of the talking, which is fine, because the surroundings are a jail.
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Rank 14. Raoul's
Cocktail Bar
A cocktail bar spread across three retro-styled levels in Jericho, Raoul's crams Oxford's largest spirits selection into alcoves behind a surprisingly small bar. Rum is the obsession, including a house blend aged in a Madeira cask, though bourbon runs a close second. The fruit-forward cocktails go through more produce than most grocers shift in a week, and the room has the easy, happy hum of a place that's been doing this for a long time.
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A cocktail bar inside Oxford's grand Macdonald Randolph Hotel, where the wood-panelled walls are lined with photographs of the late actor who played Inspector Morse, the TV detective whose cases were partly filmed here. The show has been off air for decades, which gives the shrine-like décor a pleasantly eccentric quality. Fortunately, the arched ceiling, ornate cornices, and stone fireplace make it a handsome room to drink in regardless.
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Rank 16. UnderDog
Beer Bar
The entrance is a hinged picture frame in a stairwell that appears to lead nowhere, which sets the tone pretty well. UnderDog is a low-lit, deliberately scuffed speakeasy-style cocktail bar tucked beneath the Bethnal Green BrewDog, and the brewery doesn't advertise it at all. Just ask to be taken downstairs. The drinks lean toward beer, as you'd expect given the parentage, but the hidden-door theatrics justify turning up curious.
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Rank 17. Kazbar
Moroccan Middle Eastern
Kazbar is a Moroccan-themed bar on Cowley Road where the staff dress like they wandered off a film set and the seating is all low tables piled with cushions and carpets. The L-shaped wooden bar anchors the room, surrounded by wrought iron, orange trees, and sandy walls that commit to the bit without tipping into theme-park territory. The drinks list skews Spanish more than Moroccan, which is either a surprise or a relief depending on your expectations.
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Rank 18. Cafe Coco
Cocktail Bar
The oval wooden bar at the center of the room is what orients you first, then the checkerboard tiles, the palms, the terracotta pots, and the tea lights doing their gentle work. This Cowley Road bar runs coffee by day and cocktails by night, with around fifteen classics plus house originals on the menu. The crowd skews local and unhurried, the kind who know the difference between an aperitif and a digestif and order both.
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Rank 21. Grand Café
Coffee
Bentwood chairs, potted palms, and a mosaic-fronted brass bar give this coffee house the air of a Victorian parlour that somehow survived several centuries of undergraduates. Samuel Pepys apparently traced it back to 1650, which makes it older than most of Oxford's excuses. Afternoon tea draws the tourists and the occasional American president; regulars come for coffee and the pleasing sensation of drinking it somewhere that has been around essentially forever.
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Rank 22. Duke of Cambridge
Cocktail Bar
The name sounds like a pub, but the Duke of Cambridge is a cocktail bar, and a proudly self-proclaimed long-standing one at that. A long wooden bar runs one wall, circular booths line the other, and the wide-open floor between them exists for a reason: this place fills up. Happy hour runs four nights a week for four hours, which tells you more about the vibe than any descriptor could.
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Named after the grass squares at the centre of Oxford's college quads, this hotel bar sits on the High Street with arched windows, exposed brick, and a central island bar that draws a steady crowd from opening time onward. It has the loose, lively feel of a brasserie rather than a quiet hotel lounge. A courtyard out back turns it into a genuinely pleasant spot when the weather cooperates, which in Oxford is, statistically, an optimistic bet.
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Rank 24. Bottega
Wine Bar
Rough-hewn planks on the walls and upturned casks for seating set the tone at this pared-down wine bar in Jericho, sitting opposite the rather more famous Raoul's. The list is short and deliberate, with everything available by the glass and tasting notes that actually say something useful. Nothing here is trying to impress you, which, in Oxford, is quietly impressive. Local art fills the gaps on the walls that the wood doesn't.
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Rank 26. All Star Lanes Whiteley's
American
Tucked beneath Whiteley's shopping centre, this retro bowling bar leans hard into the American theme, right down to what is reportedly London's largest bourbon selection. Diner food runs all evening, burgers and steaks and serious desserts, but the real draw is the lanes themselves, where celebratory knee slides are not uncommon. Karaoke nights have since joined the rotation for anyone whose competitive spirit lives in their vocal cords.