Stylish canalside pub with 'punchy' snacks and 'fantastic' Sunday lunches named again in top 100 pubs list

A Stourbridge pub acclaimed for its excellent Sunday roasts, family feel and picturesque setting next to a canal basin has again been named one of the top 100 pubs across the United Kingdom.

The Old Wharf Inn on High Street was ranked 34rd in the Good Food Guide top 100 list, marking its second year named on the list after being ranked 33rd in 2025.

The pub, which overlooks the Stourbridge Canal Basin, was described by the Good Food Guide as an industrial-era pub which attracts fervent local support and offers a wide range of pub food as well as a selection of real ales.

It also gave it a good rating, with a good mark for uniqueness, deliciousness and warmth and a very good mark for strength of recommendation.

The review in the Good Food Guide said: “The beloved Old Wharf Inn has been ‘a staple part of Stourbridge’ since reopening its doors in 2019 following an extensive renovation.

“The name and the location overlooking the Stourbridge Canal basin might summon up nostalgic echoes of heavily laden barges and the Industrial Revolution, but the wooden-floored interior now has a stylish contemporary look.

“The menu offers an appealing blend of modern pub food and Mediterranean-accented flavours, and the kitchen is renowned for its mighty portions.

“Punchy snacks such as spicy devilled eggs open proceedings, ahead of, say, monkfish and ‘nduja stew or Devon White chicken leg with parsley sauce, pickled girolles and charred Evesham corn.

“For afters, affogato and sticky date pudding await. ‘Breakfast is great, but Sunday lunch is fantastic,’ declares one local fan, no doubt musing on the Aubrey Allen striploin of beef.

“Given that Stourbridge wine merchants Nickolls & Perks are co-owners of the pub, it’s no surprise that the compact list has been carefully curated; otherwise, four rotating hand-pulled ales please the beer brigade.

“‘Efficient, welcoming staff’ are regularly mentioned in dispatches.”