A traditional country pub unmolested by modern fixtures, fittings and food… welcome back to traditional, high quality dining and service at The Brownlow Arms

Since becoming a University city, Lincoln has become awash with trendy modern eateries and cosmopolitan bistros – superb for shopping sorties or when meeting friends for a bite to eat during your lunch hour… but at weekends, and especially when out and about during winter, a restaurant should be a warm, welcome and traditional place in which to hunker down for the whole evening.

Few places across the county could fit the bill like Hough-on-the-Hill’s Brownlow Arms – it’s comfortable, cosy and utterly traditional, from the massive limestone fireplaces burning thick local logs to the plush comfortable dining room with its stone mullion windows and oak panelling.

Like its architecture and the village itself, the Brownlow Arms is utterly faithful to its heritage, which the Brownlow family created in 1622 when Sir Richard Cust became the first Baronet of Stamford, later created Baron Brownlow in 1776. The village of Hough-on-the-Hill was owned in its entirety by the family, gradually being sold off right up to 1977.

It was two years later in 1979 when Paul and Lorraine Willoughby moved into the village pub alongside Paul’s father and mother, Leslie and Joyce Willoughby, to run the business as a family.

Upon moving in, the family completely transformed the pub, creating enviable menus and seven bedrooms, whilst remaining utterly faithful to the property’s age and heritage. With Paul, Lorraine and Paul’s sister all working together in the kitchen to create a restaurant with an enviable reputation.

The family left the restaurant in 1999 to retire from the trade, but found they missed the business to such an extent that purchasing the Willoughby Arms in 2000 saw a rapid return to running a restaurant. Once again, the venue quickly became popular. However, when the Brownlow Arms came back onto the market four years ago, the couple says they saw it as an opportunity to return to their first restaurant and save the venue from obsolescence.

2003 saw the final element in the continuing story of the restaurant’s success, when freelance chef Paul Vidic first set foot in the kitchen.