I went in search of Britain’s best burgers – here are my 24 favourites

Whether you like yours sloppy, salty, cheesy or smashed, there are few things more satisfying than a really good burger. Happily, Britain has become extremely good at them, with brilliant versions now found everywhere from pubs and restaurants to tiny independent burger joints. Here’s our pick of the best… The Anderson, Fortrose, Highlands Black Isle burger If you have come up all this way, you will want a sense of place as you settle down for a comforting burger and a pint in a very good pub. And if you’re local, you will relish a bite or two of pure escapism as you relax in a buzzy beer garden. Luckily for you, The Anderson has both covered. Its signature Black Isle is a steak burger topped with bacon and Munro’s haggis, and comes with the option of a flame-grilled or smashed patty. I recommend having the former: it is a great old-school steak house bite, served with fries and an onion ring. Ardfern, Leith, Edinburgh Double smash burger Opened in 2024 by chef Roberta Hall-McCarron and husband Shaun next to their flagship bistro The Little Chartroom, Ardfern is an all-day café, bar and bottle shop rather than a specific burger spot. Roberta and her team have pedigree, and it shows: this is a Michelin-recognised chef applying serious restaurant talent to the simplest possible cheeseburger. Listed as such, this is a deliberately uncluttered double smash burger with cheese, pickles and bacon mayo. If you’re even relatively close to Leith, you would do well to make time to pop in for one. Shorts Bread Meats Bread, Glasgow Luther burger Brilliant burgers are not always about restraint: sometimes you want unbridled joy and escapism in your meal. This is exemplified nowhere better than at Bread Meats Bread and is especially true of the Luther burger, where no bread is involved. This gloriously excessive offering replaces the bun with two toasted glazed ring doughnuts, sandwiching a cheeseburger with candied bacon, spicy honey mayo and crispy onions. Sounds too much, doesn’t it? But trust me, sometimes it’s exactly what is needed. Fat Hippo, Newcastle PB+JJ Founder Mike Phillips devised Fat Hippo as a university business plan, opening the first restaurant in a little Jesmond end-of-terrace in 2010. One suspects his tutors would be proud of the 13-site behemoth Fat Hippo has become. The menu is broad and a gluttonous spirit is rewarded. Options such as the Wild Bill, with its tater tots and jalapeño ranch, or the Fat Hippo, which has onion rings, chorizo and naughty Hippo sauce, come highly recommended, but the PB+JJ is the jewel in the crown. Peanut butter sounds like a stunt until you taste the combination of fat with salty sweetness, smoke and spice through bacon jam and smoked chilli jello. The Round, Keswick, Cumbria Pike O’Pickle The Round is in Keswick’s Market Square, just footsteps from Moot Hall, which is the start and finish of the Bob Graham Round – a 42-peak Lake District fell-running challenge. It is not a feat of endurance that I am willing to attempt, but the restaurant’s branding, décor and burger names offer a comfortable alternative as they play on Lakeland fells and the legendary challenge. Its finest burger, the Pike O’Pickle, is named after one of said fells, the Pike O’ Stickle. It brings together Cumbrian beef, smoked bacon, American cheese, house pickles, lettuce, tomato, and burger sauce. It is very good and very of this place. If you find yourself in the unfortunate circumstance of taking on the Bob Graham Round, find solace in this burger. Bunsen, Belfast Cheeseburger Started in Dublin in 2013 by cousins Tom and Finn Gleeson, Bunsen first opened up in Belfast in 2017. Its defining characteristic is ruthless simplicity: the food menu, famously, is small enough to fit on a business card. There is a burger, a cheeseburger, a double of either, a soda, a milkshake, and fries. That’s it. They use 100 per cent Irish beef, mincing the meat inside each restaurant, shaping the burgers by hand and adding only salt and pepper immediately before grilling. In a genre full of outrageous toppings, Bunsen’s burger is your argument for doing very little, but exceptionally well. The cheeseburger from Bunsen is comprised of 100 per cent Irish beef Craft Burger, Middlesbrough Double cheese classic In direct contrast to Bunsen, Craft Burger is unashamedly bombastic in its burger creations and business ambitions. Started by two local lads, the concept has since travelled around the North East and even as far afield as Lahore: franchising opportunities are displayed as prominently as menu options on their website. Crucially for this list, the burgers are very good too. And while the Asian-inspired Naga Flex or the Doritos Heatwave smash are temptations hard to ignore, the double cheese classic would be my choice, combining two fresh Angus beef patties, melted cheese, Craft burger sauce and crispy lettuce on a toasted potato bun. Tommy Banks’s Abbey Inn, Byland, North Yorkshire Byland Dexter burger Tommy Banks is hospitality royalty. His 19th-century pub won Best Sunday Roast from The Good Food Guide in 2024 and Sustainable Pub of the Year at the 2025 Top 50 Gastropub Awards. He also owns The Black Swan at Oldstead and Roots in York, which both have a Michelin star, and has been a competitor and judge on The Great British Menu. He also grew up nearby in Oldstead in a farming family and still grows much of his produce. Here the Dexter beef for the burger was reared only one mile away and is rounded out with cheese, bacon, and chicory root jam, making a rarefied thing indeed. That the fries are cooked in pork fat only sweetens the deal further. Almost Famous, Manchester Phoenix burger Founded in Manchester in 2012, Almost Famous started with two rooms, one griddle and a queue that would not disappear. It is the 2010s “dirty burger” craze personified, and it has endured gloriously. They do it properly too: their beef comes through Althams, Lancashire butchers since 1856, using heritage breeds including Aberdeen Angus, Hereford and Shorthorn. But it’s what they do with it that counts. The Phoenix combines the very good beef patties with cheese, bacon, shoestring onions, Frazzles, red chillies, Redneck BBQ sauce, bacon mayo and bacon ketchup. That plus a milkshake and you’re in nostalgic peak-burger nirvana. It feels good to be back. Free State Kitchen, Liverpool Double French onion burger Another British burger stalwart to have spawned from that “dirty burger” boom, Free State Kitchen is much loved and family owned, serving its American comfort food from a Liverpool townhouse with a bonus garden out the back. Its double French onion burger is basically French onion soup translated into a burger, which is exactly as good as it sounds. I mean good beef patties, garlic butter, Swiss cheese, caramelised onions and Dijon mustard mayo, all on a brioche bun. Impossible not to love. There is nothing better than a satisfying burger – and Britain has plenty of excellent ones on offer (Photo: Getty Images) Slap & Pickle, Sheffield Han Solo Slap & Pickle began as a one-off south London pop-up before its first permanent burger joint opened in Leeds in 2018. Now they have two sites in Sheffield and one in Manchester. Their beef patties use 40-day dry-aged beef from Swaledale Butchers, one of Yorkshire’s best, which sets them apart from the start. Their signature burger is the Personal Cheezus, a double patty cheeseburger which is pure joy. But I recommend getting their Han Solo, a single patty hamburger, and asking for it Oklahoma style – with wafer-thin onions smashed into the patty. Original Patty Men, Birmingham Mortadella burger The Original Patty Men, Tom Maher and Scott O’Byrne, emerged from Birmingham’s formative street-food scene, operating from their “Meat Mansion” gazebo before winning Best Burger at the 2014 British Street Food Awards with their Japanese-influenced Sumo creation. This tells you everything you need to know about their beautiful burgers – be it the Pineapple Express, with its pineapple hot sauce, or the Louisiana Slammer with its lemon pepper mayo and thick-cut pickles. The Mortadella is one of the most original burgers in the British Isles. Topping aged patties with American and Swiss cheese, folds of grilled mortadella, sauerkraut and thick-cut pickles gives you a burger that is like nothing you’ve tasted before. It makes it hard to return to a regular burger, although return you must – unless you live within striking distance of Digbeth. In which case, lucky you. The Flavour Trailer, Brixworth, Northamptonshire Bacon Flavour burger “Born in a tent, raised in a warehouse” is how The Flavour Trailer describe themselves. And that Brixworth warehouse in the Northamptonshire countryside is now the base for an operation that spans seven food trucks doing God’s work across the Midlands. The Bacon Flavour burger is a truly classic construction that combines locally sourced aged beef with Swiss and American cheese, smoky streaky bacon, iceberg lettuce, pickled red onions, gherkins and the house burger sauce, all in a toasted potato bun. Nothing especially clever there, aside from the on-point cooking and perfect sourcing (and saucing). The Flavour Trailer won Vegan Burger of the Year at the 2023 National Burger Awards, and its beef-dripping-loaded creation The Drip reached the national finals again in 2026. Hanbao, Worcester Hanbao burger Not a typical burger-based origin story, the founders of Hanbao opened in Worcester in 2016 after they had quit their jobs and travelled through Hong Kong, China and the US, soaking up everything from neon basement bars and street-food stalls to American diners in the search for their perfect burger bar. Hanbao means “burger” in Mandarin and the burger spot they have created is deliberately conceived as an East-meets-West restaurant. All of which makes the char siu bacon in their signature Hanbao burger miles more than just a delicious Asian garnish in a very good burger – it is a nod to the whole origin story of the restaurant. My advice is to use the Hanbao as your gateway drug here: do not fear spiralling out of control and ending up with an Odd Future in your hands. It’s my second favourite burger to use glazed doughnuts as a bun. You can thank me later. The Chilli Cheese Boy from The Beefy Boys The Beefy Boys, Hereford Chilli Cheese Boy The Beefy Boys began when four friends started experimenting on typical back-garden barbecues around fifteen years ago. That early tinkering became a series of pop-ups, which before long led to them representing Britain at the World Food Championships in Las Vegas. They finished second in the world and used their winnings to open their first Hereford restaurant in 2015. The rest, as they say, is history: they now have six sites across the country. It goes without saying that their burgers are very good indeed, and the Chilli Cheese Boy is a pure Americana. The 100 per cent Hereford beef patties are topped with American and Swiss cheese, bacon, beef chilli, nacho cheese sauce, sour cream, Ball Park mustard, chives and pickled jalapeños. Cawsburger, Hitchin, Hertfordshire Ham Jam Thank You Ma’am This great little business from Hitchin was certainly punching above its weight when it made the finals of the National Burger Awards this year – its signature burger took third in the Bloggers’ Choice category. It is not the one that took them all the way to the finals, but the Ham Jam Thank You Ma’am is the one for me: a single dry-aged patty, their famous chorizo jam, manchego, shards of crispy serrano ham and a confit garlic mayo all make for a unique and engaging burger experience. And all in sunny Hitchin. What more could you ask for? The Pig & Apple, Monmouth The Pig Mac The Pig & Apple sits at Upper Meend Farm, home of Humble by Nature, Kate Humble’s working mixed livestock farm in the Monmouthshire countryside. It is deliberately off the beaten track and uses high-quality ingredients, often from suppliers based within the county. And it shows in the burgers, which are towering creations featuring the best local ingredients. The Pig Mac is a classic construction of two beef patties, cheese, bacon, lettuce, red onion, gherkins and Pig sauce, their take on a classic burger sauce. It’s a treat worth travelling for. Burger Boyz, South Wales Chuck Norris School friends Jack Phillips and Marcin Sadlos, from Port Talbot, were working full-time engineering jobs but decided in 2021 to buy a burger van, despite having no commercial-kitchen experience. That somewhat reckless impulsivity has been a loss for Welsh engineering, but an unequivocal gain for the burger fans of South Wales. Burger Boyz’ creations are no-holds-barred: the Chuck Norris, one of the burgers invented on their original truck, combines two smashed beef patties, American cheese, crispy bacon, candied onions and Norris sauce – which is addictive and a closely guarded secret. Their meat is Welsh ex-dairy beef – delivered freshly minced, hand-rolled daily and smashed to order – and has a depth of flavour that is hard to turn your back on. Branches in Port Talbot, Cardiff, Newport and Swansea. The Aged Cheese Burger from Whole Beast (Photo: Whole Beast) Whole Beast, Brixton, London Aged cheese burger Run by husband-and-wife team Sam and Alicja Bryant, every burger ever sold by Whole Beast has been cooked by one or the other of them. Starting with pop-ups in pubs around south London, Whole Beast now has a standalone site in Brixton where their nose-to-tail, live-fire cooking philosophy can be seen at full throttle. They buy whole animals and have a plan for every one that comes into the building. And that plan includes using the stuff they cannot use elsewhere for possibly the best burger I have ever eaten. This aged cheese burger is not merely award-winning: in September 2024, the National Burger Awards brought back previous champions for its tenth anniversary edition, and Whole Beast beat the field to be crowned Burger Champion of Champions with exactly this burger. In all its glory it is aged beef, smoked bone marrow, bread-and-butter pickles, diced white onion, American cheese, Whole Beast burger sauce and a milk bun. You simply must go and try it for yourself. Milk Bun, Bristol Mira Founded in Bristol 2018 by two brothers with a focus on locally sourced ingredients, grass-fed aged meat and their own signature bun, Milk Bun feels fancier and more polished than many of the street-food-seeded joints on the list. It puts you in mind of a high-end New York hotel lobby bar and the crisp, simple offering you might find there. There are four burger options: a simple smash, a cheeseburger, a chilli jam and peanut butter treat – and then there is the Mira. This construction combines patty, American cheese, white onion, beef tallow mayo and garlic jam in a burger that is considerably more delicious than the sum of its parts would suggest. Please Sir!, Broadstairs, Kent The Splash Starting as a sandwich shop that launched just before the pandemic, Please Sir! pivoted to burgers when owner Steve Lawrence needed an offering that could bring in money during lockdown. Starting with just a cheeseburger and his stated aim to “be the best”, he was soon selling 1,500 burgers a week from a single grill. People were loving the cheeseburgers so much that they kept asking him, “what else have you got?”. And so he’d conceive of another burger and add it to the menu. He now has sites across east Kent – and if you find yourself nearby, The Splash is a rare treat. Taking inspiration from “French dip” sandwiches, this wonderfully simple smash burger features American cheese and is accompanied by a pot of beef-dripping gravy for dunking. So simple and yet so pleasing. Hoof, Rye, East Sussex The Hoof “Farm to table” can be meaningless restaurant rhetoric, but at Hoof it is literal: the cattle and potatoes travel four miles to the restaurant from the owner’s farm (only Tommy Banks of Yorkshire can beat that). Tired of formulaic chain restaurants, Hoof set out to do it differently, creating something radically local. The Hoof uses 100 per cent prime ground beef, cheddar, tomato, baby gem and homemade pickled cucumber, with fries made from the farm’s own potatoes and homemade tomato relish to round it all out. This feels like a pure expression of British farming on a plate, and is a joy to eat as such. The Mariners in Rock (Photo: @beersargent) The Mariners, Rock, Cornwall Mariners burger Here again, Michelin pedigree meets Great British Menu storytelling – all played out on the simple canvas that is a good British pub burger. Having taken over The Mariners, a quayside pub in Rock, Paul Ainsworth proves to us that even the casual end of his oeuvre comes with serious consideration and technique. This is brought to bear on every element of the menu, but particularly so in the signature Mariners burger: a grilled aged beef patty from Cornwall’s best butcher, Philip Warren, plus smoked bacon, Cornish brie, tomato and nigella seed relish, pickles, lettuce and tomato in a clotted-cream bun. A thing of pure beauty. Hub St Ives, Cornwall Chilli Cheese As long ago as 2003, founder Richard Boon’s idea was to serve American-style street food made with well-sourced quality Cornish ingredients. Fast forward to 2015 and his Big Kahuna burger was the winner of the inaugural National Burger Awards. And so for over two decades Hub has served exemplary burgers on a Cornish harbour, preceding the current smash burger boom and looking likely to long outlive it too. The chilli cheeseburger is about as maximal as a burger can get while remaining a genuine treat to eat. The patties are topped with short rib chilli, pork ‘nduja, smoked cheddar, chipotle mayo, candied jalapeños, green chillies, tomato, and butterhead lettuce. ‘All You Can Eat’ by Ben Benton is out now (Profile Books, £18.99)