The Bay Horse in Hurworth village hailed ‘best’ in UK
The Bay Horse in Hurworth, on the outskirts of Darlington, picked up the trophy for ‘best food offer in the UK 2025’ at the Stonegate Awards, held in London on February 4.
As part of the award process, the Bay Horse came up against 3500 other pubs that Stonegate own across the UK, including some top dining pubs across London, the North West and Yorkshire.
The Bay Horse wowed judges, who visited the venue in October last year, with its creative menu, its service and its constantly revolving food offering.
After picking up the award in London on February 4, triumphing against other finalists The Queen Inn at Upper Cwmbran, Wales, and The Ship Inn, Southfleet, general manager of The Bay Horse, Katie Thirkell, said that she is “immensely proud” of all the pub has achieved over the years.
This award links with The Bay Horse being named in the 2025 Michelin Guide list, alongside a host of other awards for the venue over the last number of years.
“For us, this award recognises us, not only on a stage in Darlington or the North East, but it’s national validation for us,” said general manager Katie.
“When you win an award against other top pubs in the UK, it shows that judges from London and other locations across the UK like your food and we like flying the flag for the North East and showing that we have great restaurants and pubs up here.”
Alongside the award for the pub, which Katie says is for the “incredible effort” that the team give to serving its customers, it has also shone a light on the suppliers it uses, with Katie noting that The Bay Horse tries to use local suppliers and champion North East and North Yorkshire produce.
Katie added: “We have been here a long time so this award is nice to show that we haven’t just stayed still and stayed the same, we have adapted, we have kept things exciting and not got complacent.
“Our old head chef left the venue previously and our new head chef has come in with some great ideas, alongside our kitchen team, and it’s a testament to them to produce the quality of food they do.”
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Moving forward, Katie hopes to do much of the same which has made The Bay Horse a top destination for food lovers.
Recently, the Hurworth pub has bought the cottage next door and is offering customers a full experience of staying over after their meal.
“The staff have worked tirelessly and I’m proud of all of them,” added Katie.
“In the next couple of years, we want to hit those same high levels that we’ve set ourselves.”