Take a Peek Inside Britain's Best Pub
Named Britain's Best Pub by The Good Food Guide less than a year after welcoming its first guests, The Highland Laddie in Leeds keeps things classic
It seems that everywhere you look in cities you’ll find long-forgotten pubs left to fade away as newer, shinier eateries and bars continue to pop up. Prior to April this year, The Highland Laddie (formerly The Highland) was just another in a long list of English pubs that had seen better days. When it came up for lease, it seemed inevitable that it would become just another corner shop. But Sam Pullan, who owns the popular Empire Café in Leeds and knew The Highland in its former life, saw a different path for the pub. ‘It was a special building inside but I knew it had lost its way,’ he says.
Sam had a clear vision for the pub, but it took some convincing as the landlords were leaning towards a vape or convenience shop. ‘I said I need to come in and meet you and tell you what I do,’ he tells us. ‘We spoke to the landlords directly and they were like you know what, this sounds like the best option for us.’
The team got the keys on 1st January 2025, and began the process of restoring the pub to its former glory under its new name, The Highland Laddie (affectionately known as The Laddie). ‘All we did really was strip it back to its bones and keep the original features so we could accentuate what’s already there and do it properly,’ Sam explains. This involved discovering a hidden fireplace which the team now use to cook on. Outside and in, the pub is an elevated blast from the past, complete with glossy wooden bar tops, plush leather seating and a log-burning fire to ward off the cold.
But the pub doesn’t just look the part, its food offering is elevated too. Sam already had a stellar reputation for food from the kitchen of the Empire Café, so it’s no surprise that the menu of The Highland Laddie also packs a punch – this time with an emphasis on nostalgia and comfort. For Sam, the food element is often an overlooked aspect of what makes a proper pub. ‘So I’m from the North and I’m actually half Geordie, so I get it. I get social club culture. I got brought up in it with my grandad,’ he explains, adding that between rounds of drinks there would always be hearty plates of food. ‘So we do a ham plate, which is obviously elevated and amazing, but I just thought it was a wonderful thing from northern pub culture where people were encouraging you to top up the beer with a bit of food.’
It’s an attitude that Sam has continued at The Highland Laddie, where the split between diners and drinkers is fairly even. ‘Now we’ve won this Good Food Guide award, you’d expect to be full of people having meals, [but] it’s half and half,’ he says. ‘Half of them are coming in for a lovely meal, and half of them are coming in for a pint and they’re sat there with their dog taking in the atmosphere and enjoying it. It’s so small and the tables are so close together everybody is getting involved in conversation and that’s exactly what a pub should be.’
Sam describes his menu as being heavily informed by shared ‘food memories’, flavours he remembers from his own time spent in pubs, or memories of dishes that patrons have shared with him. ‘All the core stuff that we do is about what I’ve experienced in my life and what other people have told me. I bank that and it can honestly be 20 or 30 years old and they resurface as dishes on the menu.’ Seasonality also plays a role, as does making everything from scratch. Current favourites include the ham platter, sausage rolls, and oysters. ‘The sausage roll is mega popular because it comes out like a croissant. The lamination in the pastry dough is second to none,’ says Sam. ‘Oysters are also super popular. I think last week we did about 1,000 oysters. We go through oysters like they’re going out of fashion.’
Proper pubs like The Highland Laddie may seem like a thing of the past, but Sam believes they’re having their own renaissance. ‘I think the older generation are reintroducing themselves to pubs, and I think the younger generation are newly introducing themselves to pubs,’ he explains, suggesting that Covid encouraged younger people to forego clubbing and seek out community-driven spaces instead. ‘I think we’re in a new age for pubs, and people want to see them reopen.’
The Highland Laddie certainly hit all the right marks, and Sam tells us about discovering his pub had been named best in Britain. ‘I got a phone call from the editor of The Good Food Guide,’ he says. ‘I really wanted to get in the top 100. I thought we could do it being a new pub essentially.’ As the editor took him through what they looked for in a quality pub, Sam knew The Laddie was ticking the boxes. ‘And she went, “that’s why you’re number one”,’ he says. It was a moment of shock for Sam. ‘To be honest I thought Tommy Banks would nip it,’ he says. ‘It’s had a nice impact. It’s not full of tourists like you’d expect, it’s just people from Leeds that are coming in, having a couple of half-pints and enjoying it. That’s the best thing about it I think. I love the diners, don’t get me wrong, but I do love the bar room where people are just wandering in for a pint.’
Tell us some of your favourite local breweries.
Kirkstall Brewery – I think their beer is absolutely exceptional. Amity Brew Co is a local brewery that’s doing really cool stuff at the minute, they’re based in Farsley. Then Wensleydale Brewery is just solid.
What’s your go-to pub snack?
To be honest with you, we’ve got a really good crisp range. We’ve got Seabrook, they’re from Bradford. We’ve got stuff like Johnny’s onion rings and all of these old-school crisps and I do like to see something in pastry. I like to see a sausage roll or a pork pie.
Sunday dinner or full English breakfast?
Full English breakfast 100 percent.
Tell us your top Yorkshire pubs.
Okay, in no particular order, Templar in Leeds, The Grove Inn in Leeds, The Corn Dolly in Bradford. Then the Craven Arms in Appletreewick, and then my fifth is probably going to be The Fighting Cock in Bradford.
