Market Drayton Restaurant Guide

2023 Review: New York, London, Doha… Whitchurch – that’s been the progression for Stuart Collins and wife Frances, who started this slightly unlikely venue five years ago, bringing a level of culinary ambition that was previously unknown to this corner of the Shropshire/Cheshire borders. Helped by a star turn from Stuart on Great British Menu a couple of years ago, it continues to attract some “outstanding all round” reviews for its 9-course tasting menu (at £85 per person).

Mel & Martin Board, who reinvented the Haughmond Inn at Upton Magna, have worked wonders since taking on this village pub-with-rooms, opposite a Norman church, two years back. The “beautifully refurbished” (to the tune of £2 million) venue’s food “has also gone up a considerable notch”, offering “inventive” and “excellent value” locally sourced British grub with greens from the 200-year-old walled garden of Hodnet Hall. While it “still caters for a local clientele”, perhaps not for long, after critic William Sitwell’s glowing review (headline “civilisation has hope”).

“The trat’ every neighbourhood needs” – “amazing value and consistently good food” (pizza, pasta, seafood, meat) make this relaxed “cheap ’n’ cheerful” Italian on the high street “a firm favourite that is booked out two months ahead at weekends”; further plaudits for the “great atmosphere”, too.

“You are served in a large dining room under a giant moon” in this striking eatery – a centrepiece of the World of Wedgwood – which was added to this factory-visit and museum experience in late 2021. Named for a seventeenth-century dining club filled with luminaries of the Midlands Enlightenment, and overseen by local lad Niall Keating (who left behind two Michelin stars to take up the opportunity), it brings a pleasing level of ambition to underserved Staffs and The Potteries. There’s a relatively affordable à la carte menu, or an eight-course tasting menu for £120 per person. Given that its mere presence is a minor miracle in the area, it’s not hard to be bowled over and it delivers “frequently excellent dishes – often containing luxury ingredients, formally but attentively and helpfully served, if in a space that is perhaps a little large to feel completely at home in”. On the flip-side, even those who think it “very good” can still find it “overpriced”.