Pub one of the best in UK
HONOUR VOTED FOR BY CHEFS AND FOODIES
A PUB has added another accolade to its lengthy collection, being named one of the top 50 gastropubs in the UK.
The Olive Branch, in Clipsham, was this week named the 27th best gastropub in the UK, at the Estrella Damm Top 50 Gastropub Awards.
The Rutland venue was one of the first pubs in the UK to win a Michelin Star, which it held from 2002 until 2013, and was named UK Pub of the Year by The Good Pub Guide in 2014.
It is listed as one of Top 10 Best Pubs (UK) and Top 10 Wine Pubs (UK) by the Good Pub Guide 2020 and has been named the guide’s Dining Pub of the Year (Rutland and Leicestershire) for 15 of the past 18 years.
The Estrella Damm Top 50 Gastropub Awards are voted for by food writers, pub company catering development managers and executive chefs, celebrity and top hospitality industry chefs, pub guide editors, industry chiefs and food operators.
Olive Branch co-owner Ben Jones said: “It was great to be invited and included in the Top 50 Gastropubs Awards.
“We thought we might be in the 40s, so to have been voted in 27th place was a brilliant achievement.
We are really proud of what we do and proud to represent the amazing food producers, breweries and many other brilliant pubs in Rutland and the East Midlands.
“It’s an area of outstanding produce and it’s a shame it is not more widely recognised. We hope we are going some way to help that.
“It’s been a real team effort to maintain our high standards while always trying to improve.
“It’s not always easy with a transient workforce and more people leaving our industry than joining, but we’ve got a great backbone of key staff who have been with us for years and understand what the Olive Branch is all about.
“It’s an award that is voted for by other gastropub owners, chefs and industry experts and after 20 years it is great to see we are still seen as one of the best.”
The Olive Branch was the only venue in Leicestershire or Rutland to have been recognised in the top 50.
The number one spot was claimed by The Harwood Arms, in Fulham, London.