Despite lean times in the pub trade, London venues did well in this year’s Estrella Damm Top Gastropubs competition. The competition, now in its 16th year, is organised by the Morning Advertiser and sponsored by Damm, the Spanish family brewery who now, of course, have a British dimension in that they have started brewing at the Eagle Brewery in Bedford.
The much praised Devonshire in Soho topped the list for the first time, which is very good going for a pub that only opened in 2023. The Red Lion and Sun in Highgate moved up from 6th to 3rd while the Canton Arms in South Lambeth moved up from 22nd to 11th. There were two notable new entrants. The Hero (formerly the Hero of Maida) in Maida Vale featured for the first time at 24th, followed by the Kerfield Arms in Camberwell at 25th. I don’t know if the events are connected but, shortly after the announcement, the owners of the Kerfield put the freehold on the market. There is however no threat to the pub, which is operated by the same people who run the Baring in Hoxton which was 17th.
Overall, there were 13 London pubs in the top 50 plus another 11 in the ’51 to 100’ section. These included old favourites such as the Anchor & Hope in Waterloo at 64th and the Eagle in Clerkenwell (EC1R 3AL) at 77th. The newly opened Allsopps pub, the Blue Stoops in Kensington came in at 88th. There isn’t space to list them all but full details can be found on the competition website, https://www.top50gastropubs.com/.