Q1 WHEN IS A PUB MORE THAN JUST A PUB?
WITH THE BRITISH PUB SEEMINGLY IN DECLINE, A HANDFUL OF TOP CHEFS ARE ADDRESSING THE PROBLEM, BRINGING FRESH FLAVOURS TO YOUR LOCAL
It’s a rainy Monday evening in mid-September in a pub in rural Somerset, yet every table is taken, with blackboard specials disappearing by the minute. What’s more, it’s been this way since April, when The Three Horseshoes, in Batcombe, reopened after a refurbishment. These days, the pub has celebrated New Zealand-born chef Margot Henderson at the helm — and, perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s appearing on numerous hot lists, thanks to its elevated comfort food, bucolic location and five chic bedrooms.
But this success story is set against a far-from-rosy backdrop: quite simply, British pubs are in trouble.
The figures tell a worrying story; according to the British Beer and Pub Association, the number of UK pubs has dropped by around a quarter since 2000, with nearly 400 closing for good in England and Wales during the first half of 2023. Battered by the pandemic, crippled by soaring energy and food prices, struggling with staff shortages and falling footfall, for many, the sums just aren’t adding up. Yet our affection for our pubs remains. And in rural locations, such as Batcombe, they often play a valuable social role — so much so that communities across the UK are now stepping in to rescue their locals, with over 150 now communityowned, according to the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).
There are, however, other ways to keep a pub afloat — just ask some of the country’s top chefs. The gastropub isn’t a new construct, of course; it’s been around since the early 1990s, when The Eagle, in Farringdon, started wowing London’s drinkers with its restaurantstyle food. It was followed by a procession of others, from Stephen Harris’s now-legendary Kent-coast pub The Sportsman to Tom Kerridge’s The Hand & Flowers in Marlow. Since then, some have even won Michelin stars (currently 21, with Kerridge’s establishment standing alone in having bagged two). It’s fair to say this development wasn’t greeted with universal enthusiasm, with many regulars aghast to find their ploughman’s replaced by pricey tasting menus. But the evolving pub crisis has created a new breed of gastropub. Led by top chefs, they’re actively courting locals, taking great pains to make sure all needs are met by offering creative plates of food at a broader range of prices, while retaining key elements of the classic pub.
“The pub is a British institution and it’s a great thing to be part of,” explains Henderson, “They’re important community hubs, but we don’t want them turned into residential properties; we want our pub to be the beating heart of the village once more.” The Three Horseshoes aims to be just that, with its buzzy bar boasting plenty of local cask ales and ciders,
