A GASTROPUB near Chipping Norton has secured 9th spot in the top 10 pubs for food in the uk.

The Kingham Plough, owned and run by celebrity chef Emily Watkins, took its latest accolade at the Estrella Damn Top 50 Gastropubs Awards 2016.

The award ceremony was hosted by the Publican’s Morning Advertiser and held at Hermitage Road Bar and Restaurant on January 25.

Ms Watkins, who is married to Miles Lampson, said she was proud to hear the news: “I was totally shocked and delighted to hear we were 9th in the Gastro Pub Awards. There are so many amazing pubs out there and new places opening every day, so we all feel very chuffed to have climbed up the list to be in the top 10, the whole team has worked so hard to get here.”

The couple opened The Kingham Plough in 2007, with the aim to create a dining pub in the Cotswolds that they themselves would like to visit.

The food, which puts a twist on traditional British dishes, quickly gained critical acclaim and has been awarded numerous accolades including 3 AA rosettes and voted Oxfordshire Dining Pub of the Year by the 2015 & 2016 Good Pub Guide. Late last year, Ms Watkins reappeared as a surprise judge on BBC2’s Great British Menu, where she assessed dishes by fellow Top 50 Gastropubs chefs Josh Eggleton of the Pony and Trap and Dominic Watson of the Beehive, White Waltham.

The Estrella Damm Top 50 Gastropub Awards are voted for by a voting academy, made up of experts such as gastropub operators - who can’t vote for their own pubs - food writers, executive chefs, celebrity and top hospitality industry chefs, pub guide editors and industry chiefs. The panel is then broken into six regions across the UK to ensure fair representation.

According to the Gastropub Awards, The Kingham Plough’s standout dishes include twice-baked pumpkin soufflé with Windrush goats’ cheese, venison Wellington with parsnip and chestnut gratin, sprout tops and cranberry jelly, and frozen pear parfait with warm gingerbread and sloe gin jelly. Emily also makes her own ice cream which was another standout aspect for the Top 10 placing in the Gastropub Awards.