If your idea of a good hotel involves low beams, a log burner and a pint within arm's reach, autumn is the season to book a pub with rooms. The Independent Travel has rounded up 17 of the best across Britain, and the list makes a strong case for skipping the chain hotel on your next staycation.
In the countryside, the picks lean heavily on character. The Great Decoy in Hurstbourne Tarrant, Hampshire, is a newly renovated pub named for its Second World War role as an army decoy site designed to fool enemy aircraft. Eight antique-furnished bedrooms start at £90 a night with breakfast, and the 90-cover restaurant turns out pie and mash, Brixham fish stew and venison steak frites. In Somerset, the 17th-century Manor House Inn in Ditcheat pairs flagstone floors and open fires with wood-fired pizza and beers from local breweries, from £120.
The Lake District gets three entries. The Kirkstile Inn near Loweswater suits walkers after a quieter lake, with snugs, local ales and a crumble of the day worth saving room for (from £145). The Royal Oak in Borrowdale's Rosthwaite village wins points for its drying room and afternoon scones, while the Cuckoo Brow Inn at Far Sawrey is a smart base for Beatrix Potter fans — two log fires greet you at the door, family rooms have bunk beds, and a 20-minute ferry crosses the lake to the World of Beatrix Potter attraction in Bowness.
Cornwall's entries sit in and around St Ives. The Lifeboat Inn has five harbour-side doubles from £101, some with views towards Godrevy Lighthouse, while The Gannet at Carbis Bay (from £200) draws locals for Sunday roasts and serves a crab profiterole worth ordering on its own.
City dwellers are catered for too. The Bedford in Balham, London, from £99, is a revived live music venue that once hosted Ed Sheeran and Eddie Izzard and still runs comedy and gigs — handy when the show ends upstairs from your bed. The Culpeper near Spitalfields has five pared-back rooms and a rooftop garden bar with East End views, and The Princess Royal in Notting Hill squeezes emperor beds into just four botanically wallpapered rooms. In the Cotswolds, The Wheatsheaf Inn in Northleach offers 14 rooms with rolltop baths and easy access to Bibury and Bourton-on-the-Water.
Why it matters: pub rooms deliver the two things British autumn breaks demand — a fire to dry off beside and dinner you don't have to walk far for — often at prices undercutting boutique hotels. Rates across the list run roughly £90 to £200 a night with breakfast, and the best rooms sell out quickly for October and November weekends, so booking ahead pays.
