Market Drayton, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

Stuart & Frances Collins opened in this cute market town in 2017, and have won it local renown as a “favourite” for a high-quality meal thanks to its “creative and excellent tasting menu and good quality wines” – ten courses for £100 per person.

“Slightly different comfort-food dishes” grace the menu at this “attractive gastropub” – with a “relaxed atmosphere” in an old school building. Steak ’n’ kidney pie is the pick of the main dishes, while the “excellent desserts” include an appropriately ‘Old School Ram Roly-Poly Pudding’. There are more than 300 gins behind the bar, along with a “good range of real ales”.

Opposite a leafy churchyard in a small town south of Stoke-on-Trent, this unassuming “gem” is rated on ongoing upbeat feedback from a small, dedicated fan base, praising its “fantastically skillful food with a brilliant balance of flavours”. Sophie Hardman & Jake Lowndes are celebrating their tenth year of business in 2026 and offer imaginative cuisine from either à la carte or tasting menus, the latter is £90 per person.

This “lovely old coaching inn” in a village of picturesque Tudor houses is a “real addition to a part of Shropshire not awash with good places to eat” and achieves an impressive level of feedback for somewhere out in the boonies. Owned by Sir Algernon Heber-Percy, who lives close by in Hodnet Hall (the kitchen garden supplies the vegetables to the inn); his son Tom was responsible for the inn’s “gorgeous makeover” a few years back. “The food covers fine dining to light lunches and afternoon tea” and all reports say it “functions well as a foodie pub while still catering as a bar for locals… one of the best around”.

Too little feedback this year for a full review on this intriguing eatery in The Potteries – part of the World of Wedgewood experience – whose high-profile founding chef, local Staffordshire lad Niall Keating, left after three years in May 2024. There is a full-on chef’s table blow-out, but most visitors opt for the relatively affordable posh-brasserie menu (which is the formula price given).