Kettering Restaurant Guide

Stephen and Tracy Fitzpatrick, who also run The Joiners Arms at Bruntingthorpe, are the winning duo behind this sixteenth-century village inn with four rooms, three miles south of Market Harborough; the wide-ranging menu tips its hat to fish ‘n’ chips on Friday, and takes in thrice-weekly ‘Auberge Suppers’, and there are “lovely gardens to go with the excellent food”. Tip Tip – it’s “worth staying for the superb veggie breakfast”.

This “great local restaurant” from Chris & Abby Ascough has built a solid reputation over 19 years for its “beautifully cooked and presented food” at “exceptionally good value” – including a £20 set lunch and a six-course tasting menu for £48 per person with matching wines for £20 per person.

Open again from October 2023 (shortly after our guide goes to press) – this “lovely thatched pub just off the westbound A14 trunk road” is ‘under exciting new management’ (at least that’s what the website says…). It received consistent praise as a “go-to place for many years”, with good-value cuisine and a high-quality wine list – here’s hoping that continues.

This “beautiful old country pub” – thatched and beamed, with a “lovely cosy atmosphere, open fire and low lighting” – serves “top-quality food” from chef Emilie Bull, backed up with an “impressive wine list” overseen by proprietor Tim Hubbard, here for 22 years with his wife Kate. “Kate and Tim know what they’re doing and they do it very well indeed” – “they’re always so friendly and happy to see you again”.

Celebrating its 10th year, this “very lively option with good cooking on Oundle Wharf” is “now a stalwart of the local dining scene”, with an “interesting menu that showcases local produce” – and “the beers are not too bad either, being brewed next door” at the Nene Valley brewery.