The Angel at Watlington makes it into final three of Eat Game Awards 2024

A village pub has made it into the final three of a national competition which judges the quality of a specific type of meat.

The Angel at Watlington has been shortlisted in the final three for the 2024 Eat Game Awards, a national competition for the best restaurants and pubs serving and promoting game across the UK.

Excited staff will find out the final results at an awards ceremony hosted in London in March.

The venue also recently underwent an extensive refurbishment both internally and externally, and reopened on Wednesday last week with an entirely new look.

Emily Phipps, who owns the pub, said: “This award is particularly special for us as the first stages to get this far are from votes from our customers both on normal days and from our taster menu days that we hold regularly, with a focus on game over the season.

“We are so proud of all our team for their hard work to get us this far and so grateful to all our customers for all their support with The Angel.”

Emily paid tribute to the pub’s local suppliers, which include Donaldsons Fishmongers, Goddards Butchers, Fruit Pig Butchery and Danns Farm, as “without their support and the standard of their produce we wouldn’t be able to produce the dishes we do”.

“As a team we are so proud of this achievement and the recognition it has brought to the pub and also the local area,” Emily added.

“Winning a second AA rosette and being part of these awards is the continuation of our journey to continue to develop and evolve our skills, the menu and also the pub with the full refurb, and hopefully it will only progress from there.”