What a year The White Hart in Fyfield is having after being listed at number 11 in The Good Food Guide’s Top 100 Pubs 2026, it has been announced.
The national award covers the whole of the UK, so it is a huge accolade for the historic Oxfordshire pub to be listed so high in the pecking order.
‘I don’t think it’s sunk in yet’
“We are so delighted and excited,” landlady Kay Chandler says, who runs The White Hart with her husband chef patron Mark Chandler. “We are still shellshocked. I don’t think it’s sunk in yet.
“Coming up against the top people in the industry on a national level and being placed 11th is such a huge achievement for our village pub. We have been so busy that sometimes you can forget that what you’re doing is working, so this is really amazing, and a massive reflection on our team.
‘this is really amazing, and a massive reflection on our team’
“Some of them have been with us for 17 years and The White Hart is a massive part of their lives, so it’s great for us all to be recognised by GFG for what we do.”
The couple attended the Good Food Guide Best Pub presentations at The Theatre Royal in Drury Lane, with the GFG noting The White Hart in Fyfield’s “amazing seasonal food, creative dishes, first-class staff and beautiful historic building.”
‘Coming up against the top people in the industry on a national level and being placed 11th is such a huge achievement for our village pub’
The Good Food Guide’s 2026 slant for Best Pub concentrated on “pubs that go beyond great food and drink”. They also noted that “The White Hart‘s kitchen garden and local farms supply many of the ingredients for seasonal menus that might start with a consummately rendered fig, coppa and goat’s cheese salad, ahead of succulent sea bream matched with tomato and anchovy vinaigrette and saffron gnocchi. A serious wine list provides back-up, while a summer house and beer garden (including a summertime pizza kitchen) add to the allure.”
The Bull in Charlbury was the second Oxfordshire pub to make it into the revered list, coming in at number 63.
The Bull in Charlbury was the second Oxfordshire pub to make it into the revered list, coming in at number 63
And with a new head chef in situ at The White Hart in Fyfield, Henry Kremer-Ireson of Damson fame in Newbury, the good times look set to keep coming, having already won BEST GASTROPUB AT THE OXINABOX FOOD AWARDS 2026 and then Gastropub of The Year for The South Of England, as well as being awarded 2 AA rosettes for 20 years running, and being listed in the Michelin Guide.
The White Hart Fyfield is at https://www.whitehart-fyfield.com
