In 2016, cricket duo Stuart Broad and Harry Gurney teamed up with Dan Cramp, an experienced pub manager, to launch The Cat and Wickets Pub Company and their first pub ‘venue’ together The Three Crowns in Wymeswold, Leicestershire. When they took over the venue they brought it back to life giving it a classic yet modern gastropub feel. More recently they opened their second venue The Tap and Run, again with a clear influence of Stuart and Harry’s cricketing background.

It has the typical traditional layout of a village pub, with warm decor and rustic features including exposed wood and brick. The bar area is smart with a feature wall showing the history of the local area. In addition to this there are a couple of TVs mixing the modern with the classic. The traditional layout is complemented by a more modern decking area outside complete with pizza oven.

The menu is compact, yet seems to have enough on it to please any taste preferences or appetite. To start there is the option of a soup of the day, their famous ‘piggy snout’ sausage roll, salt and pepper squid and dirty onion rings which stood at the most to me, as these were onion rings with chorizo, mozzarella, BBQ and mustard. I’ll have to go back and try these as they did sound pretty good. From their mains they offered classic roasts of beef, pork or lamb served with all the trimmings. I liked how this part of the menu was easy to read and to the point, as well as adding a bit of fun by calling the roasts either cow, pig or sheep. Alongside these traditional Sunday roast dishes, they had a goats’ cheese and beetroot salad, beer battered haddock, chips in dripping and mushy peas and a chicken, leek and ham pie with chunky chips, mushy peas and a rich gravy.

However, I decided to go for the greedy option of The ‘Crownsie’ their traditional roast dinner with all the trimmings and a slice of each of the three meats they serve cow, pig and sheep. The portions were monumental. All the meat was juicy and not dry at all. The beef and lamb were served slightly pink which added to the taste and juiciness of the meat. It was slightly tough in places but given the thickness of the slices this was acceptable and pleasing to fill my glutinous appetite. Alongside this was a whole roasted carrot which was buttery and sweet and served slightly al dente and a cabbage and leek medley. The roast potatoes were excellent. Golden with a slight crispiness to the outside and extremely light and fluffy on the inside with an almost buttery and rich taste as they had taken on the flavour of the gravy. The rich and flavourful gravy made from the juices of the meat added another depth of meatiness to the meal. To finish of the roast was a good-sized Yorkshire Pudding with crisp, golden edges adding texture.

To finish the meal they have a good variety of puddings, these included a sticky toffee pudding with vanilla ice cream, a warm chocolate brownie with cookie dough ice cream, a strawberry shortcake sundae, a selection of ice creams ( lemon curd, vanilla, strawberry or cookie dough), a salted caramel and chocolate tart with vanilla ice cream, warm Belgian waffle with chocolate sauce and cookie dough ice cream and Barkham blue, carrot cake with a pineapple chutney. From this we selected two classics the sticky toffee pudding and the warm chocolate brownie.

Rich chocolatey aroma rose from the plate. The brownie was chewy with a crisp top, the vanilla in the ice cream cut through the richness of the chocolate and complemented it well. The ice cream would have benefitted from larger pieces of cookie dough making it more distinguishable as a cookie dough ice cream. The sticky toffee pudding was another simple yet well executed dish with the vanilla ice cream cutting through the sweetness of the toffee whilst at the same time allowing the bitterness of a cinder toffee aftertaste to come through. The pudding itself was a delicate balance between airiness and moisture which resulted in the perfect sticky toffee pudding.

The Three Crowns was an impressive venue with well cooked food that I will definitely be going to again. Their roast was impressive and rates up there with some of the best I have had from Larwood and Voce and The Railway, Lowdham. The meal portions were generous, the flavours were fresh and the value for money was reasonable given the quality of the food. This meal was paid for by myself and this is an honest review of my thoughts. I hope that you find this useful in making a decision of the Pub’s food offering.

Opening times: Daily from. 12PM till 11PM

Location: 45 Far Street, Wymeswold, Loughborough, Leicestershire, LE12 6TZ

Telephone Number: 01509 880011

Website: http://www.thecatandwickets.com/