The story
The Lamb Inn in Witney serves modern British pub food from Steep Hill, Leafield Road, Crawley, OX29 9TW, and holds a 2026 Good Food Guide "Good" rating. The 18th-century inn sits in a small village on the edge of the Cotswolds.
The menu is built on traditional pub classics, with roasts and slow-cooked dishes through the winter. Chicken milanese and steak and kidney pie with mash sit beside Asian-style pork belly, served with a sesame and ginger slaw. Portions are generous, and the dishes change with the seasons and with local British produce.
A roaring fire warms the bar, and low beamed ceilings run through the rooms. The garden is a suntrap in summer, and its three covered terraces let you eat outside in any weather. Service is efficient, but the pub fills quickly, especially at weekends, so booking ahead is wise.
Recognition
Ambience
Details
History
*The Lamb Inn is now under new ownership.* Revamped and revitalised back in 2019, this incredibly welcoming country pub in a tiny enclave on the fringes of Witney hits all the right notes. Described by one regular as the ‘beating heart of the village’, it’s an attractive inn built from local butter-coloured Cotswold stone, with the bonus of a pretty, tiered garden for summer dining. Inside, there's a roaring fire and a warren of playfully decorated dining spaces – the Snows also run a pub design business, and it shows. A wide-ranging menu of pub classics such as chicken milanese or steak and kidney pie with mash and green beans is leavened with slightly more adventurous fare such as Asian-style pork belly with a sesame and ginger-spiced vegetable and cashew slaw, but everything is executed with impressive attention to detail and a lightness of touch. Portions are generous – if you decide to start with, say, a Double Gloucester cheese soufflé, you may struggle to find space later for a nectarine frangipane with crème fraîche. Impressively efficient service is universally praised by visitors, which is no mean feat given how busy the place gets – you'll need to book ahead to ensure a table at weekends. To drink, there are plenty of moderately priced wines by the glass, but perhaps try one of the local ales on offer in this free house.
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