Restaurant in Upton Grey, United Kingdom
Michelin-recognised pub cooking at village prices.
The Hoddington Arms is a Michelin Plate-recognised village pub in Upton Grey that delivers genuinely skilled cooking at ££ pricing — a combination that is harder to find in rural Hampshire than it should be. With a 4.7 Google rating across 652 reviews and a room full of open fires and exposed beams, it earns a booking for anyone within driving distance who wants more than average pub food.
Yes — if you are driving out from Basingstoke or the surrounding Hampshire villages and want cooking that punches well above its pub setting, the Hoddington Arms earns the trip. The Michelin Plate recognition it carries into 2025 is not a participation trophy: it signals that inspectors found consistent kitchen skill here, not just a comfortable room. At ££ pricing, that combination is genuinely hard to find in rural Hampshire.
The visual case for booking starts the moment you step inside. The Hoddington Arms — known locally as 'The Hodd' , reads exactly as a well-kept English village pub should: rustic brickwork, exposed timber beams, and open fires that make the room feel like it has been here for decades, because it has. This is not a staged aesthetic. The character is structural, and it sets a tone that the rest of the experience either pays off or wastes. Here, it pays off.
What the room promises , warmth, ease, a lack of pretension , the service delivers on. This matters more than it sounds at a Michelin-recognised venue. At this price point, the risk is always that kitchen ambition creates a mismatch: formal plating dropped onto paper napkins, or rushed service that signals the kitchen cares more than the floor does. At the Hoddington Arms, the service philosophy appears calibrated to match the setting rather than fight it. The welcome is described as genuinely friendly, and the atmosphere as charming rather than performative. For returning visitors, that consistency is what makes the place repeatable rather than a one-time curiosity.
The menu follows the same logic. Descriptions are understated , do not expect elaborate tasting-note language on the page. What the Michelin assessment flags is that those plain descriptions conceal real technique from an experienced kitchen. The gap between what the menu promises and what the plate delivers is the pleasant surprise that earns a venue a second visit. If you have been once and left thinking the food was better than it looked on paper, you already understand what is happening here.
One specific instruction worth taking seriously: save room for pudding. This is the kind of detail that shows up in Michelin notes because inspectors ate it and found it worth flagging. On a second visit, if you skipped dessert the first time, do not repeat that.
The Michelin Plate is awarded for good cooking, not for the full suite of criteria that earns a Star. But at ££, the Hoddington Arms is not asking you to bet heavily. For context, a comparable meal at a Michelin-Starred rural British pub , think Hand and Flowers in Marlow or Pipe and Glass in South Dalton , will cost you significantly more per head. The Hoddington Arms sits in a tier where you are paying for quality cooking in a genuine pub environment without the premium that a Starred reputation adds to the bill.
Google reviews back this up: 4.7 across 652 ratings is not a score sustained by novelty visits alone. At that volume, it reflects repeat customers, locals who could easily eat elsewhere, and visitors who came back. For a village pub in Upton Grey, that is meaningful signal.
The service style fits the price bracket correctly. Friendly and knowledgeable is more appropriate here than formal and choreographed. A service team that over-performs on ceremony at ££ can make a meal feel uncomfortable; one that matches the room's warmth and lets the kitchen do the talking is the right call. From what the available data suggests, the Hoddington Arms gets this balance right.
This works well as a destination for a relaxed lunch or dinner with someone you actually want to talk to , the setting encourages conversation rather than performance. It is a good fit for a low-key anniversary or birthday dinner where atmosphere matters as much as menu complexity. Groups looking for a countryside pub with above-average cooking will find it here. If you are visiting the area and want one meal that represents Hampshire village dining at its most appealing, this is the booking to make.
It is less suited to diners who need a tasting menu format, extensive natural wine lists, or the kind of multi-course progression that destination restaurants like Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons in Great Milton or Gidleigh Park in Chagford offer. The Hoddington Arms is a pub with serious cooking, not a restaurant with a pub aesthetic. That distinction matters when you are choosing between the two.
For broader planning in the area, see our full Upton Grey restaurants guide, our Upton Grey hotels guide, and our Upton Grey bars guide. If you are building a wider Hampshire or southern England trip, the Upton Grey wineries guide and experiences guide are worth a look.
Reservations: Easy to book , no significant lead time required for most visits, though weekends in a village pub of this reputation can fill faster than you expect, so a few days' notice is sensible. Budget: ££, making this one of the more accessible Michelin-recognised dining options in the region. Dress: No formal dress code implied by the setting , smart casual fits the room without over- or under-dressing. Getting there: Upton Grey is a small Hampshire village; driving is the practical choice. Don't skip: Dessert.
The Hoddington Arms is the kind of pub that makes a strong case for itself without needing to oversell anything. A 4.7 Google rating across 652 reviews, a 2025 Michelin Plate, ££ pricing, and a room that looks exactly as good as it sounds: book it without overthinking. If you have been before and liked it, go back and order the pudding this time.
If the Hoddington Arms has you thinking about the wider category of serious British pub cooking, Hand and Flowers in Marlow is the benchmark for what a pub kitchen can achieve at the leading of the format. For something in a similar rural register but with more formal ambition, hide and fox in Saltwood is worth the journey. And if you want to understand where British cooking currently sets its ceiling, CORE by Clare Smyth in London is the reference point.
| Venue | Cuisine | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hoddington Arms | Traditional British | ‘The Hodd’ is a characterful pub at the heart of the village, and offers a friendly welcome and charm aplenty with its rustic brickwork, exposed timbers and open fires. Understated menu descriptions belie the skill in the experienced chef’s well-crafted dishes. Be sure to save room for pudding!; Michelin Plate (2025) | Easy | — |
| CORE by Clare Smyth | Modern British | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Restaurant Gordon Ramsay | Contemporary European, French | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Sketch, The Lecture Room and Library | Modern French | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| The Ledbury | Modern European, Modern Cuisine | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Dinner by Heston Blumenthal | Modern British, Traditional British | Michelin 2 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
How Hoddington Arms stacks up against the competition.
This is a proper village pub — rustic brickwork, exposed timbers, open fires — that happens to hold a 2025 Michelin Plate for its cooking. The menu reads understated, but the kitchen delivers more than the descriptions suggest. Come hungry enough to order pudding; the Michelin recognition specifically calls it out. At ££ pricing, first-timers are unlikely to feel overcharged.
The Hoddington Arms is a characterful village pub, not a formal dining room. Relaxed, neat clothing fits the setting — jeans and a decent top are entirely appropriate. There is no indication of a dress code, and the rustic interior sets a casual, welcoming tone.
For midweek visits, lead time is minimal. Weekends are a different matter — a Michelin Plate pub in a Hampshire village draws visitors from Basingstoke and beyond, so Friday and Saturday evenings can fill faster than you'd expect. Booking a week ahead for weekend tables is a sensible precaution.
There is no confirmed tasting menu format in the available information for the Hoddington Arms. The venue operates as a traditional British pub with a Michelin Plate (2025), and the format appears to be a standard à la carte or set menu. Check directly with the pub for current menu structure before visiting.
Yes, with the right expectations. The Hoddington Arms suits a relaxed celebratory meal — a birthday lunch, an anniversary dinner — where the point is good food and good conversation rather than white-glove formality. The Michelin Plate recognition at ££ means the cooking warrants the occasion; the pub setting means it will not feel stuffy.
At ££, yes — straightforwardly. A Michelin Plate (2025) signals cooking that the guide's inspectors judged genuinely good, and the price point keeps the value equation firmly in the diner's favour. You are paying village-pub prices for cooking that outperforms that bracket.
Upton Grey is a small village, so alternatives within the village itself are limited. For comparable serious British pub cooking in the wider region, the Hand and Flowers in Marlow is the benchmark for the category nationally, though it operates at a higher price point and booking difficulty. Locally, Basingstoke and the broader Hampshire area offer further pub dining options, but none in Upton Grey itself carry equivalent Michelin recognition.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
