The Sunday roast is a ritual steeped in tradition – golden roast potatoes, rich gravy and plate piled high with rare, perfectly cook meat (or a stunning veggie alternative).
The pub roast is an essential part of British life, and there are dozens in every town and village around the nation... but which are the best?
We cast our net wide and have gathered together the cosy countryside inns and romantic riverside retreats that will do you a proper Sunday roast to remember.
Best Sunday roasts in the UK
1. The Bank Tavern, Bristol
The Bank Tavern's Sunday roast is legendary. It's won pretty much every award out there and has been the talk of the town (and country!) since winning Bristol's best Sunday Lunch at the Observer Food Monthly Awards in 2019. The Guardian covered it again in 2024, saying that customers were waiting up to four years on its waitlist. They don't even run a reservation on Sundays, so if you're keen to try one of the Bank's Sunday roasts, you'll have to turn up and hope to grab a seat on one of just seven tables.
The Yorkshire puddings are high and mighty, the roast potatoes crisp. Meat options are sourced from farms around the West Country, with sample options including 30-day dry aged rare topside of beef, braised free-range pork belly and vegetable and lentil loaf. Sample sides include leeks, cider and balsamic braised shallot and seasonal vegetables.
2. The Abbey Inn, Byland
The Times referred to the Abbey Inn as "the best located pub in Britain", thanks to its dramatic setting overlooking the historic ruins of North Yorkshire's Byland Abbey. This cosy country pub was awarded the Good Food Guide's Best Sunday Roast in the UK in 2024 – and for good reason. Its head chef Tommy Banks was the youngest chef in Britain to retail a Michelin star aged 26, and has won Great British Menu three times. Not only is this one of the most stunning locations for a pub, it's food is also some of the best. Plenty of scenery to explore on a long Sunday walk, wrapped up with a salt-aged rump of beef or butternut squash and sage pie.
3. The Taybank, Dunkeld
Endlessly referred to as the 'best roast in Scotland', the Taybank's Sunday offerings are the perfect end to a long weekend walk in the Perthshire scenery. The dining room is bright and airy; the food fresh and seasonal, with some of the finest roast potatoes out there. If you've got the time or the inclination, there's a lovely beer garden and outdoor sauna opposite, right on the banks of the dramatic River Tay. If you're staying in the area for a few days, their Thursday night trad sessions are legendary, with locals bringing along fiddles, drums and pipes and playing through till the late hours.
4. Hare & Hounds, Aberthin
In a small village just outside of Cowbridge in Wales's Vale of Glamorgan, you'll find the Hare & Hounds, an unfussy pub offering seasonal food and interesting wines and ales going well above and beyond the call of duty. All its menus change with the seasons – and even the Sunday lunch mixes it up. On a sample menu, you might see local beef rump with Yorkshire pud, duck fat potatoes and horseradish, but you'll also see lamb belly with spinach, almond and anchovy, duck fat potatoes and mint sauce. Nothing's a straight and boring Sunday pub roast here.
The pub also has a Bib Gourmand from the Michelin Guide, and they're featured in The Good Food Guide, the Good Pub Guide and the Michelin Eating Out in Pubs Guide. Their partner Hare & Hounds Bakery is based nearby, and is well worth popping into for a croissant before your morning walk and subsequent Sunday lunch.
5. The Camberwell Arms, London
This local favourite topped the 2017 list of the Guardian's 50 best Sunday lunches, and has continued to be adored by south Londoners. The menu is seasonal and constantly changing, but a quick glance on a March afternoon has brought up words like 'roast pork neck with braised cimi de rapa', 'gillied hogget' and 'Hereford onglet'. This is a roast dinner worth saving your pennies for, because this will be a meal to savour. You might not get a Yorkshire pudding, but you may well get the best Sunday lunch of your life? The pay-off seems worthwhile.
6. Tebay Services, Lake District
Yes, it might seem strange to have a service station Sunday roast included in a list of the UK's best, but we implore anyone to go to Tebay Services and not be disappointed. Locals travel to Tebay for a meal out – it's that good. They use locally sourced produce and grow a huge amount on site, working with butchers to roast the prime joints for Sunday lunches and braise the slow-cooked cuts to fill their handmade pies.
Plus, kids eat for £1 at Tebay Services, with smaller portions of main dishes avaialble for £1 when bought with adult-sized hot meals. For those down south, the other Westmorland service station – Gloucester Services – is equally worthy of note.
Please note: Sunday lunch is available only at Tebay Southbound, so you'll have to take a junction detour if you're travelling in the wrong direction – the perils of a Sunday roast at a service station.
7. The Potting Shed Pub, Malmesbury
The Potting Shed Pub has got to be one of the nicest pubs to just... be in. The low ceilings of the bar give way to a bright, open dining room, all of it feeling as though there are nooks and crannies around every corner – each one offering yet more delightful aromas. Their menu is simple and unfussy, but expertly done. It's exciting to read, but also not presenting you with any complicated jargon or befuddling ingredients. There are also multiple options for vegetarians, and the staff are relentlessly helpful and knowledgeable.
8. The Unruly Pig, Suffolk
For those with slightly more cash to splash and possibly looking for something a little more dazzling in their Sunday roast, might we point you in the direction of the fabulously named Unruly Pig in the Suffolk town near Woodbridge? A 50-aged day rib of Hereford beef comes with an ox cheek-stuffed Yorkshire pudding, while a rabbit bolognese is served with gnocchi. Yes, it's a higher-end offering than some, but this 16th-century inn clings onto its traditional pub feel – something that can be difficult to achieve when you're serving oysters five ways alongside an octopus carpaccio and a wild garlic velouté. The Unruly Pig, we applaud you.
Llys Meddyg Hotel & Restaurant, Newport
A Georgian coaching inn with a 15th-century mariners tavern-turned cellar bar to boot? Llyd Meddyg also has a smoke shed, where they smoke hand-reared, hand-fed, slow-grown sustainable salmon, and a dining room decorated by sorghum moss installations and pieces by local St Davids artist Graham Hurd-Wood. There's so much here, but there's also a pretty dazzling Sunday roast. With locally sourced meats on the mains list, there are also options for pescaterians and vegetarians alike. On their current sample menu, there's a miso glazed aubergine and a whole megrim sole, for example. Delicious.
The Bull & Swan, Stamford
A short walk from the Burghley estate, you'll find the Bull & Swan pub in Stamford, famed for its runny Scotch eggs served with mustard. Have one as a starter, and then tuck in for a simple yet (highly) effective Sunday lunch menu. There are suggested wine pairings for everything, which makes life easier – and there's plenty of choice whatever you're in the market for, even if that's something other than *gasp* a roast. A classic English pub at its best.
Top image credit: Getty Images
