The Archbishop's Table

Winner of best pub and best local menu at last year’s Surrey Life Food & Drink Awards, the Stephan Langton Inn has long been a popular escape to the country. Matthew Williams discovers whether it has maintained its award-winning touch

- Matthew Williams

SOME PUBS throw their specials up on blackboards, while others showcase the latest witticism from the ‘Great Big Book Of Clichéd Quotes’ that so many landlords must receive at Christmas...

...The Stephan Langton Inn at Friday Street, however, uses their humble wall covering to proudly chalk up all the local food and drink producers that weave their way through each day’s menu.

They’re going to need a bigger one soon by the looks of things too, and it goes some way to explaining why they picked up best local menu AND pub of the year at 2016’s Surrey Life Food & Drink Awards.

Having long lived in the area and enjoyed the pub previously as dog walking punters, Anneliese Cameron and Lee Nicholls took over the country retreat in 2015. As a free house, it has enabled them to establish a tap room of sorts for Lee’s Tillingbourne Brewery (found a 15-minute drive away with Albury Vineyard and Silent Pool Distillers as neighbours – who are both found behind the bar too) but they’re also firmly focused on a taste of Surrey within their food offering.

A FAIRY TALE PLACE

I’m sure many of our regular readers were already well versed with this pub even before its double award-winning performance last year. Certainly if you live around the Reigate or Dorking area, it’s an almost fairy tale place that is passed down through the generations.