The story
Hammer & Pincers is a modern British restaurant at 5 East Road in Wymeswold, near Loughborough, and it holds 3 AA Rosettes for 2026. Danny and Sandra Jimminson run this village pub and restaurant.
The Good Food Guide (Good, 2026) calls the cooking polished and ambitious, with busy but balanced plates. Dinner comes as a three-course set menu or as a seven-course grazing menu, and each course on the grazing menu has its own wine, from a South African Cap Classique to a Rioja. On Tuesdays a five-course menu always ends its savoury run with the house beef Wellington, while the other courses change weekly.
Modern European technique sits beside Asian flavours here. A "Tom Yum" arrives as Thai-spiced tomato essence with marinated tomato and cucumber sorbet, and a leek is barbecued and served with smoked bacon and white miso beurre blanc. Elsewhere the menu stays firmly British, with Hebridean hogget shepherd's pie and a twice-baked Shropshire Blue soufflé with Waldorf salad. Dessert might be a Valrhona chocolate tart with olive oil ice cream.
The dining room has dark walls, exposed brickwork, low rafters and bare tables, so old and new sit comfortably together. Upstairs are two boutique guest rooms. The Forest Room is a double at the front of the building, and the Blossom Suite has its own lounge and a private roof terrace.
Recognition
Ambience
Details
History
Danny and Sandra Jimminson have created something highly distinctive in their village pub/restaurant near Loughborough. They now have a pair of boutique guest rooms above the venue, while the smart dining area boasts dark walls, exposed brickwork, low rafters and bare tables for a comfortable balance of old and new. Various menus of polished modern cooking (including grazing/tasting options) indicate an ambitious kitchen attuned to the combinatorial arts: blowtorched mackerel is partnered with crab and oyster mayonnaise and watercress coulis, or there could be an apricot and brioche tartlet to go with chicken liver parfait and herb salad. Main courses are busily constructed but balanced compositions, perhaps accompanying steamed turbot with prawn mousseline, asparagus, fennel and Anya potato in prawn nage, or filling brik rolls with butternut squash, alongside tahini labneh, pomegranate molasses, burnt aubergine and a purée of red pepper and walnut. The cheesecake made with Sharpham Cremet, served with grape compôte and nut brittle, will take a lot of resisting – assuming the chocolate plate with muscovado ice cream hasn't already claimed you for its own. Wine pairings suit those who are grazing, while the list kicks off at £22.
3 Rosette Award for Culinary Excellence
Location
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