Stagg Inn’s award honour
The freehold site, owned by Steve and Nicola Reynolds, won the guide’s county dining award for the past three years before scooping the top prize this year.
The business was ranked 18th in the Publican’s Morning Advertiser’s Top 50 Gastropubs awards last year.
“We are delighted,” said Nicola. “We always try to do our absolute best.
“Having won county dining pub five or six times over the years it is really special to get the overall winner title with such a great guide.
“We will put it on the website, but we don’t tend to go in for huge PR campaigns.
“It is just lovely to get voted for by people who get out a lot more than we do. To get that accolade is fantastic.”
A further 37 pubs collected County Dining Pub of the Year accolades, including two Eatsleepdrink sites owned by Charles and Edmund Inkin — the Gurnard’s Head, near Zennor, in Cornwall, and the Felin Fach Griffin at Felin Fach, Powys, Wales.
Other winners included Heston Blumenthal’s Hinds Head in Bray, Berkshire, Salisbury Pubs site the Alford Arms in Frithsden, Hertfordshire, and ETM Group’s the Gun at Docklands in east London. Northern winners included the Crown at Roecliffe in North Yorkshire.
The Potting Shed at Crudwell in Wiltshire, last year’s Dining Pub of the Year, was named Pub of the Year 2012.
The new guide also reveals the top meal choice for pub diners is steak and ale pie in all its variations, with 18% of 647 pubs voting it as their best-selling dish.
Close behind was fish & chips with 15%, non-beef pies (8%), lamb (7%) and pork belly (6%). Steak came in at 5% and was mostly favoured in the south-east, according to the figures.
