Jay Rayner praised The Talbot in last visit

Mr Rayner, who is a journalist and food critic for The Guardian's sister paper The Observer, has been writing articles on his food findings for years.

In his 2022 review, the closest place to Worcester was a cafe called Yikouchi at Chancer’s Café on Pershore Road, Stirchley, Birmingham, which is only a 38-minute drive. 

So we decided to take a look at a look at the time Mr Rayner reviewed The Talbot on Bromyard Road in Knightwick, Worcester. 

PRAISED: Food critic Jay Rayner praised The Talbot in his last visit in 2015 (Image: NQ)

In 2015, Mr Rayner visited The Talbot and said you’d have to be a 'hard-hearted, self-regarding, po-faced schmuck' if you don't like the Talbot. 

In an article for The Guardian, he described the building as a 'crumbling piece of English heritage'. 

READ MORE: Jay Rayner praises Yikouchi restaurant, Stirchley, in 2022

He said: "The fact that it’s crumbling is not a cause for concern. It’s meant to crumble. It’s a hand-raised, hot water-pastry pork and game pie and it’s built to crack and splinter like this.

"The shell, heavy with animal fats and the colour of an old oak table, breaks away to give access to the compacted meats, punchy with white pepper and mace, and an amber jelly which is long-cooking’s own reward".

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Jay Rayner (Image: PA)

And he was quickly won over by the food and he said: "The food is great, in a solid, trustworthy sort of way that speaks of a kitchen with an instinct to feed and the skill set to do it.

"You would have to like it because, in an age when gastropubs across the land are mostly fuelled by the dull beep of the Brake Bros truck reversing up to the back door, it’s bloody lovely to find a place that cooks everything from scratch because they can’t see the point of doing otherwise."

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"Let’s be clear, though: the Talbot is not one of your glistening modern gastropubs, licked with seven very similar shades of beige all with different names, like “wheaten stubble” and “oatcake bake”.

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"It does not have banquettes and stylish art.

"It has a website that looks like it was put together with a John Bull printing set, and functional mixed decor that I’m sure its regulars adore. The fireplace is for fires. It is a working community pub, with signs on the doors up to the bedrooms telling fishermen to take their dirty boots off when they’ve finished a day on the River Teme across the way (but which hasn’t always stayed there; in 2007 it flooded the bar)."