Pen Mill Hotel

Head down to Sherborne Road and you'll find the Pen Mill doing exactly what it does well—good food, decent ale, the sort of place locals actually return to rather than talk about once. The dining room's straightforward and comfortable, the kind of spot where you can bring your mum for Sunday lunch or grab a business dinner without faffing about. The kitchen keeps things honest: proper steaks, fish that tastes like fish, pies that feel homemade. Staff know what they're doing without being stuffy about it, which matters more than you'd think.