The best restaurants serving British food in East of England

Terrible service…. Took 30 mins to get a drink, Couldn’t give a clear price on the wine, or even a drinks menu…. The best bit was when the food was delayed because they ran out of bread they said if we can wait 15minutes they will run to the shops and get some ….. the shops! Customer service….. the simplest things in life are the hardest eh. Never again.

We came here on a recommendation and so glad we did. We booked beforehand as it is very popular and understandly so. The layout is really in keeping with its tudor roots with low beams and cosiness. It had a lovely relaxed atmosphere. There was a big variety of meals to choose from (and a very extensive vegetarian/vegan menu too) which are all home cooked. I had the Huntsman chicken which was q very generous portion accompanied by chips, salad and coleslaw. It was served on a hot plate, which is always a bonus. My husband has the pie of the day (which was Steak and Ale) which was accompanied by mash (you had a choice.of potatoes) and a large portion of vegetables and gravy. Without prompting, they also brought extra gravy in a gravy boat. The food was absolutely delicious with great flavours and definitely satisfied your appetite. I was tempted by the desserts and decided on the cherry cornflake tart with custard which was divine. Special mention to the very friendly and helpful staff who are a credit to the pub. The prices of the meals were very good and we will definitely be returning to try one of their Sunday Roasts. A very enjoyable experience.

Family of four, 2 couples. Staff very friendly, 3 of us had homemade steak pie (excellent), 1 with chips, 2 with boiled new potatoes, carrots and fesh peas. 1 had lamb chops, tomatoes, chips and peas. Coffees and cold drinks. Reasonably priced. Would recommend.

Had a great Saturday lunch at just £9.99 for two courses and the food was absolutely delicious. The place is charming and quaint and the young man serving was friendly and welcoming whilst being knowledgeable about the food and drink menu.

We went for a Sunday lunch as a party of 14 the staff food and service was excellent, we pre booked the vegetarian option for one of our guests who throughly enjoyed the nut roast, nothing was any trouble.

Proper tasty home cooked food. Eaten here 3 times during our weeks stay in the area. The downside is the road from Debenham to Cretingham - it’s very narrow but nowt Yorkshire folk can’t handle. Although my hubby was a bit disgruntled that you only served Roast Pork as a roast on a Sunday lunch and no Yorkshire Puds - he’s a Beef and Yorkshire Pud chap!! the food has been exceptionally tasty and the staff amazingly friendly. Highly recommend a visit

Good experience as usual. Shame about the large price increase for Pizzas and still no option of Brown or Wholemeal Bread

Lovely pub near knebworth. Very welcoming owners and fantastic food. Best to book a table in advance as pub is small and can go fast.

Our Sunday lunch was wonderful and the service was exemplary. The staff were very friendly and helpful and priced competitively.

They gave me coke on the house and the prices are good so big up turkish kebabs

The Crown used to be such a friendly fun place to go. But since the new so called manager took over its anything but friendly. Please can we get Ness and Josh back, or at least someone who cares about pubs and the people who use them.

We recently arranged to stop at the Hollybush for lunch with our walking club, the perfect location half way along our Harpenden to Hemel walk along the Nickey Line (disused railway). We emailed a month or so beforehand, expecting a group of 20-25 and got a prompt response from Gordon the landlord, acknowledging our booking. (in fact we had booked last year, then had to postpone our walk; but this was no problem). We emailed our meal choices 5 days before, again no problem. And when two people had to cancel as unwell the day before, we let Gordon know. When we arrived exactly at the time we planned, we were shown where a table had been set for our slightly reduced group of 12. The group ordered their drinks at the bar, with no hassle to pay for meals up front, as the staff just wanted to let the kitchen know that we were there so they could get our meals ready. Needless to say the meals all appeared relatively quickly, with no dramas and we all settled down to eat. At the end of the meal we all paid separately for our meals, with them being taken off the “tab” on the till and (other than one drink someone forgot they had bought for someone else) all bills were paid with no complications. The comments received from my group in the days after our walk included “a perfect pub for lunch” and “top choice of pub”. We will definitely be back next time we do this walk. Thanks to Gordon and the Hollybush team.

Nice pint of inches cider And a Sunday roast wrap very unusual but very tasty

Nine of us went in there on Saturday 22nd June for lunch and we weren't disappointed would highly recommend going in there Donna and her staff were very friendly and very helpful. I hadn't been in there for 30yrs but as we were up that way we had to try it. It's, changed a lot but for the best. Thankyou Donna for the photo shoot 😁😁 ☺️

Lovely freshly cooked wholesome British food, with some interesting twists on the specials board, more than just pub grub. I had steak, tomato and almond pie, mashed potato, carrots, cabbage and green beans followed by damson Panna cotte