What Exactly Is A Gastropub (And What Kind Of Food Do They Serve)?

Innovation is the name of the game when it comes to staying relevant in any industry, and the culinary world is no different. Sometimes, there's an idea that changes the game in a big way, and it's fascinating to take a look at just how some of these ideas were born, grew, and developed. Take the American diner. The origin story of the diner goes back to the 19th century! Take a look across the pond, and you'll find the origin story of a much more recent but no less influential concept: The gastropub.

Merriam-Webster added the word "gastropub" to the dictionary in 2012, but people might still wonder what it is that makes a gastropub. On the surface, it's a pretty straightforward idea: it's a pub that serves restaurant-quality food. 

It seems like a place that offered both good pints and good food would be a bit of an obvious thing, which makes it surprising that the first gastropub only opened in 1991. When Michael Belben and David Eyre opened the doors of The Eagle, it was a huge deal. Previously, British pub-goers were restricted to food options like bags of crisps and soggy, pre-made sandwiches, which — well, it was never great. Things changed in a big way when Belben and Eyre decided to open a pub at a time that seemed like the exact wrong time to open a restaurant. They got creative, though, and in the process, invented a whole new type of eating establishment.

Michael Belben and David Eyre are the two restaurateurs credited with creating the gastropub concept. It came about because, at the time the then-coworkers were looking at opening their own place, the UK was facing a recession. A family member suggested pivoting to a pub, and when they came up with the idea to combine a pub and a restaurant, the gastropub was born. According to what Eyre told NPR, they weren't looking to reinvent the wheel, but to solve a problem: "We liked restaurants, but we couldn't really afford to eat in the sort of places that we liked, because restaurants were very exclusive and expensive."

The Eagle set the precedent for a pub that's pouring pints while offering upscale cuisine, but there's also a vibe to gastropubs. Simply, it's unpretentious: there are no snobby wait staff, no wine sommeliers who look down their noses at questions, and no dress codes that require a tie. 

Walk through the door of a gastropub, and you'll likely be greeted by a casual dining area and mismatched furniture that harkens back to necessity. When UK laws changed to restrict the number of pubs that breweries could own, a flood of buildings hit the market. When Belben and Eyre bought The Eagle, they renovated it in under a month, stocked it with what they could, and cooked out of their own kitchen — Eyre lived in an apartment above the restaurant. It worked.

There's no real rule about what kind of food is served at a gastropub, but many establishments follow some of the general guidelines put in place around The Eagle and other early pioneers. The menus vary wildly from place to place, but there are some things that many have in common.

To imagine what many gastropubs are serving up, imagine some quintessential British comfort food, then elevate them in a way that you'd expect to see done on your favorite cooking show. There are things like pies made with locally sourced ingredients, fish and chips with fresh fish from the boats that dock at a nearby pier, and starters made with fresh veg and cheeses from nearby farms. Dishes often change regularly, and based on what's in season, there's usually a signature dish or two, and many will have signature ingredients that they specialize in, like beef or fish.

Some gastropubs will also specialize in a particular international cuisine: The Eagle, for example, is famed for its Mediterranean-inspired dishes. And when we say that the food being offered at gastropubs is extraordinary, that's not an exaggeration. The concept first hit the U.S. with the opening of the Spotted Pig in New York City, which is a Michelin-starred restaurant. It's only becoming more and more popular, and it makes sense: Good food, good drink, and an incredible atmosphere at a reasonable price? Why wouldn't you want to go there?