The White Horse

With a new look and new menus, the popular Harpenden pub-restaurant has successfully combined tradition with the latest trends

- Richard Cawthorne

News that The White Horse at Harpenden had just had a major facelift was sufficient excuse for a visit, plus an online menu promising twin favourites of venison and calves’ liver. So two of the three reviewer’s essentials – tempting food and attractive surroundings. The third is service, which wasn’t bad either.

The White Horse is not alone in flourishing a new look, with many Herts pubs over the past few months joining the trend, but it is fortunate in its popular village green location and its success in striking a balance between staying a pub and moving on to adding food. It had help on the food side – it was celebrity chef Jean Christophe Novelli’s first stop after an award-winning stint at Auberge du Lac in Welwyn and before he set up his Novelli Academy at Tea Green.

Another award-winning presence, the Peach Pub Company, took over The White Horse eight years ago and according to Peach regional director Bevy Berenger, hasn’t looked back. This in turn led to the refurb – ‘with so many guests beating a path through the doorway, the time had come to give the pub a new lease of life’, she says. Peach also has Brookmans at Brookmans Park.