The story
On the edge of Harpenden Common, The Silver Cup has been part of the local landscape for nearly 200 years. Originally a Victorian public house at the end of the Harpenden race course — the winner of the final race took home a silver cup, giving the pub its name — it has been carefully brought into the twenty-first century by siblings Matthew and Olivia.
The pair grew up in Harpenden, and their family ran The Silver Cup for seven years before Matthew took over the lease in spring 2020. He has since transformed the interior into a contemporary, stylish dining space that still feels like a pub at heart. The bar remains, welcoming anyone who wants a drink or a bar snack, while the dining room offers something a little more special.
Matthew is the chef patron, with experience in top London kitchens including Auberge du Lac, The Typing Room, Galvin Brothers, and Anglo in Farringdon, where he was head chef. He is dedicated to creating imaginative Modern British food, sourcing the best seasonal produce from across the British Isles. Olivia, as food and beverage director, brings her own experience from hospitality around the world and focuses on making every guest feel at home.
The menu changes regularly, but a recent sample shows the kitchen’s confidence with bold, seasonal flavours. Starters include a venison scotch egg with smoked chilli, potted Aylesbury duck rillettes with parfait and sourdough, and day boat crudo with grapefruit, chilli and yogurt. Larger dishes are designed for sharing: a Gloucestershire Old Spot pork chop with burnt apple, butter-roasted market fish on the bone with caper and sea herb, or a dry-aged Hereford sharing steak. All are served with pommes frites and a bright gem lettuce, caper, pickled shallot and crouton salad.
There is also a set menu offering two courses for £25 or three for £30, available at lunch on Thursday to Saturday and for early dinner Wednesday to Saturday. Sunday lunch is served from noon.
The Silver Cup holds a Michelin Recommended award for 2026, a recognition that matches the ambition Matthew and Olivia set out: a high-end food and drink offering in a relaxed, casual environment. They describe it as “a contemporary public house with a casual neighbourhood restaurant serving some of Britain’s finest produce.” It is a place where you can stop in for a pint, stay for dinner, or book one of the rooms and make an evening of it.
Recognition
Ambience
Details
History
Its scores of fans would happily upgrade this unpretentious pub with rooms on a busy road to a Gold Cup, with additional praise ladled on to the Sunday roasts (‘simply wow’) and the ‘exceptional’ steaks. Sadly, we arrived for a late lunch on what must have been an off day. Service had too many slips and the main course of oxtail and beef-cheek pie was a rather sloppy (and expensive) version of cottage pie, without any accompanying vegetables. That said, there’s undoubted talent in the kitchen. A first course of lobster and crab tartlet was terrific: the prawn cocktail-like filling was abundant, creamy and flavourful, encased in a crisp, brittle cup resting on a purée of avocado. Our dessert was also a rich indulgence: the Silver Cup 'Snickers Bar'– a chocolate mousse with a nutty, chocolate casing topped with vanilla ice cream and surrounded by caramel. Several main courses (roasted turbot with crème fraîche or Gloucester Old Spot pork chop with burnt apple, for instance) are for two to share, and a menu of snacks (merguez Scotch eggs or baby burrata with leek and walnut pesto, for example) is now served in the separate saloon bar and the garden. There's also a well-annotated, globetrotting wine list that’s several notches above the pub norm. The local siblings who have run this place since 2020 know how to please their regulars.
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