Hort's Townhouse

Hort's Townhouse is a roomy Old City gastropub on Broad Street that makes Sunday lunch simple: a choice of beef, pork or chicken, plus a vegetarian roast (a teriyaki-glazed root-vegetable tian on the current menu), each with duck-fat roast potatoes, double-egg Yorkshire puddings, celeriac purée, root veg, greens and gravy. Roast mains run from £19.50, with the Slimbridge rump of beef at £22 (indicative). Its trump card over the picks above is flexibility — roasts run right through from noon to 9pm, so it suits a late lunch or an early dinner and takes the pressure off booking a narrow lunchtime window. It ranks below The Ostrich because the food and setting are solid rather than distinctive, but for a central, all-afternoon roast with a choice of meats it's hard to beat; the trade-off versus the higher picks is less occasion and less standout sourcing.