The story
The Clockspire, at Gainsborough, Milborne Port (DT9 5BA), serves modern British food and holds 2 AA Rosettes for 2026. The restaurant occupies a school built in 1864, and its gabled frontage is topped by the clockspire that gives the restaurant its name.
Luke Bryant joined the kitchen as an apprentice in 2019 after training with Michael Caines in Devon, and was appointed Head Chef in 2024. The menu is built on seasonal, locally grown produce, cooked with an ingredient-led focus on flavour, harmony and balance. The Chef's Menu, served on Friday evenings and Saturdays, has included Clockspire salmon tartare with caviar and beef fillet with Scottish girolles, with wine pairings.
Bare stone walls, exposed oak roof beams and a polished concrete floor define the dining room. The Good Food Guide describes the service as slightly formal but efficient, with a £30 three-course set menu at lunch and early evening. The dessert list has included a Clockspire dark chocolate fondant with miso caramel sauce and honeycomb.
Recognition
Ambience
Details
History
Built as a school in 1864, this vast gabled building is architecturally striking with stone arches, a cloistered frontage, huge windows and gables topped by an ornate clockspire from which the restaurant takes its name. Soaring raftered ceilings and ornate chandeliers continue the grandiose theme in the dining room offset by contemporary flourishes of pastel shades, polished concrete floors and arty floral displays. Though there are few conventional fine-dining trappings here, chef Luke Sutton can deliver some intricate, highly worked dishes. He takes an intelligent, creative approach to seasonal produce, perhaps adding some BBQ English asparagus and wild garlic sauce to a starter of mushroom raviolo or serving Cornish stone bass with a spring vegetable chowder, sprouting broccoli, caramelised apple and vermouth sauce. Main courses could be as classic as sirloin steak with portobello mushroom, tomato chutney and triple-cooked chips or as up-to-the-minute as Creedy Carver duck breast pointed up with pickled radish, haricot bean purée and spiced sauce. Desserts are also given exact, thoughtful treatment as in crème brûlée custard tart with poached pear and caramelised white chocolate. There's also the option of a £30 three-course set menu at lunchtime and early evening, while the restaurant’s feel for ‘niche presentation’ extends to well-reported Sunday roasts (cider-brined pork loin, rump of beef with slow-cooked ox cheek). Slightly formal but super-efficient service makes everyone feel a bit special, and the extensive, globe-straddling wine list includes a decent selection by the glass and half bottle.
2 Rosette Award for Culinary Excellence
Location
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