The Highland Laddie – visiting the pub named as Britain’s best!

I used to visit the Highland Laddie back in the 1990’s as it was a regular haunt for people who worked at the Graham Poulter marketing agency. It was a proper Leeds boozer, but never going to win any awards.

Having been closed for a few years, I read with interest when I heard it had re-opened. I nipped in last year with a pal for a pint on my way back from an event in Leeds and as well as a good selection of beers, I was surprised to see you could buy oysters at the bar!

I started to hear reports that they served great food, then in October 2025 the Highland Laddie took the number one spot in the 100 Best Pubs listing published by The Good Food Guide. I finally got round to spending an afternoon at the pub when the Highland Laddie was chosen as the venue for a catch up with some old friends I used to play rugby with.

Before I mention the food, it’s worth a bit of background to The Highland Laddie. The building which dates back to the 1920’s, had been derelict for a couple of years when it was spotted by Sam Pullan and Nicole Deighton, who also own the wonderful Empire Café in Leeds city centre. Apparently, there were already bids in to turn the building into a vape shop, but Sam’s pledge to the landlords of returning it back into a pub, but with fantastic food, secured the deal.

So did Sam deliver on his promise?

We arrived before 12 noon to grab a table for the six of us in the bar. There is a dining room which takes bookings but only for smaller groups. There was a great selection of hand pulled beers and even a newly relaunched Double Diamond on offer.

The building is a bit like the flat iron building in shape, so the bar area is almost triangular with the dark wooden bar along one side and tables around the rest of the edge.

The green and red colour scheme with the dark wood makes it feel cosy (the ceiling is even red!), along with the quirky artworks on the walls making it the sort of place you are quite happy to wedge in for a lost couple of hours!

It felt weird ordering oysters in a pub, but the cabinet on the bar had oysters on ice from Lindisfarne and Carlingford so we thought, let’s give it a go!

Half a dozen oysters was £20 which was not ridiculous. The oysters were served with Highland Laddie hot sauce, mini pearl pickled onions and lemon.

They were great – fresh with a slight spicy kick to compliment the taste of the sea.

After the oysters we checked out the menu. It had plenty of options including some pretty appetising bar snacks, so we decided to share a few between us.

Chips with curry sauce – what’s not to like, perfectly cooked chips with a small ramekin of chip shop curry sauce.

Vindaloo Devilled Eggs – being a bit of a chilli fiend, these were great. A slightly spicier version of your traditional curried hard boiled eggs.

The Laddie Sausage Roll – hand made in the kitchen by Sam and his team, this was a classic with quality sausage meat, tasty crisp pastry and served with a dollop of brown sauce.

Barbeque Paneer Kebabs – these were cracking. Small pieces of Indian paneer cheese skewered then cooked with red pepper and served with a spicy green chutney.

Loads of flavours, classics with a contemporary twist.

There was plenty of choice with the main courses, with vegetarian and gluten free options. Dishes I considered included Grilled Monkfish in Makhani sauce, Seared Scottish Scallops, Smoked Bacon Broth in Crispy Filo and the Pork Meatball with Wild Garlic Butter and Red Pepper Sauce. All sounded delicious.

But in the end, I narrowed it down to Keema Shepherd’s Pie and the Pork Schnitzel with Fried Eggs. Fortunately, my pal Ellis had the same dilemma, so we shared the two dishes between us.

The Keema Shepherd’s Pie was outstanding. I’ve always liked a keema pea curry and this ticked all the boxes for me. Spicy mince with peas, with a piped mash topping with a crispy pappadom crust served with Carrot pickle. Why has no-one thought about a curry and mash combination before?

The Pork Schnitzel was served with two perfectly cooked fried eggs. It came with anchovies for a salty hit and also caper butter (another one of my favourite things). It was great. Really tender pork, a crisp breadcrumb coating. A classic done well.

One of the party went for the Braised Rabbit Hot Pot, with smoked chicken thigh, potato and rabbit gravy. We were told it was a small pot, so being a big lad he had two! Both were finished and it got a big thumbs up.

The other dish chosen from the menu was Slow cooked Jacobs Ladder from the fire, with Fries and Peppercorn Sauce. This was essentially a posh steak and chips, but the Jacob’s ladder is actually a beef short rib, a heavily marbled cut for extra flavour. It comes from a hard working part of the cow and the Highland Laddie chefs cook it slowly on a low heat in a fire to ensure the breakdown of connective tissue.

I tried a mouth full and this was a tasty treat.

We were all too full for a dessert, but Arctic Roll, Chocolate Cake with Earl Grey Custard and Strawberry Pavlova all sounded pretty special. We managed to squeeze in another pint instead!

In summary, this was a great lunch. The Highland Laddie’s strapline is A Drinkers Pub with a Dining Room. This straight talking, no buls**t approach sums up the approach of the pub. With pubs across the country closing down every week, this is testament to the fact that if you serve great beer along with top quality food, you will have success. Like Field of Dreams – “build it and they will come”.

Well done to Sam and Nicola on their venture. I will be back soon!