West Kent Local News
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The Kentish Hare, Bidborough Ridge. Image courtesy of The Kentish Hare.
The Kentish Hare Named One of Britain's 100 Best Pubs 2026
The Kentish Hare, the dining pub on the ridge between Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells, has been named 57th in the Good Food Guide's Britain's 100 Best Pubs 2026, published this week - the only West Kent pub to make this year's list.
What the guide says
The Good Food Guide rates the pub "Good" overall, with "Very Good" for warmth specifically, describing it as an "affable, smart dining pub" from restaurateurs Chris and James Tanner - the brothers behind several well-known West Country ventures. Inside, it's pine tables under a vaulted, beamed ceiling, with the pub's hare emblem standing on the bar counter and an outdoor terrace overlooking the garden for summer. The guide singles out the chicken liver parfait, fish and chips and cuts of Launceston beef, alongside a wine list the Tanner brothers oversee themselves.
A decade on the ridge
The Kentish Hare first opened in May 2014, and the restaurant holds two AA Rosettes alongside its Good Food Guide listing. It opens from 11am for coffee and drinks, with a changing set lunch menu served Wednesday to Sunday and dinner from Wednesday to Saturday; walk-ins are welcome throughout, though reservations are advised at busy times. Dogs are allowed in the Library bar and the main garden.
Second year running
This isn't the Kentish Hare's first appearance on the list - the pub also featured in the Good Food Guide's 100 Best Pubs for 2025, making this back-to-back recognition. It's a different accolade to the one we reported in January, when the pub was named among the UK's Top 50 Gastropubs by a separate ranking (top50gastropubs.com) - two different lists, both with the Kentish Hare on them.
Where it is
The Kentish Hare, 95 Bidborough Ridge, Bidborough, TN3 0XB.
Other Kent entries on the list
The Kentish Hare is the only West Kent pub on this year's list, but three other Kent venues also made the cut - all on the county's eastern side, well outside our usual patch: the Radnor Arms in Folkestone (9th), the Rose in Deal (28th), and the Wellington in Margate (50th). Worth knowing about if you're heading that way, but outside what we cover here.
