Hollow Bottom — Restaurant in Cotswold District

We wanted to find a spot for a Sunday lunch and had heard that The Hollow Bottom in Guiting Power had just re-opened under new management - so we booked in for a late Sunday lunch.

The place was fairly full of people, diners seemed genuinely excited to see it back. I wasn’t aware of the history of the place but overheard more than one local mention that it was once under the Dunkerton’s folks, but had slipped during the most recent era under Young’s Pubs, losing its spirit and focus. Locals had stopped attending as much and were now willing to give it another chance under the new owners.

You could tell by the decor and art on the walls they were leaning into the links to local horse racing. Add the fireplace, interior and cushions, they want you to feel at home here.

The Hollow Bottom is now in the hands of chef-owners Nathan Eades and Liam Goff, who also run The Halfway at Kineton and The Horse & Groom at Bourton-on-the-Hill. This again was something I learned as I ate my lunch and looked at the “What’s On” flyer and chatted with the locals.

I have not been to these other places, but at the Hollow Bottom I get a sense their focus is on simple, local, curated and elevated pub fare. There’s a sense of careful stewardship here, where the food, service, and atmosphere feel well intentioned and confident, not forced. Like you’re in safe hands.

To start, we shared the Cured Cornish mackerel with pickled cucumber, Greek yoghurt and bitter leaves. It was clean, sharp, balanced - I’m hoping they continue to play with the cure and elements, but it was a different mackerel experience and I’m always glad to see people trying different things with mackerel.

I’m also a big fan of rarebit and was keen to try it when I saw it on the menu. It was straightforward and enjoyable, I normally try and push the bite of the cheddar, the kick in the mustard and the boldness of worchestershire/ale elements in my own - but they are obviously going for a milder version on their first hit out.

For mains, the slow-braised lamb shoulder was generous and hit all the right notes, served with seasonal vegetables, double spud, a creamy cauliflower cheese, and of course, a Yorkshire pudding.

I didn’t have room, but like always I made room and we shared a lemon posset with summer fruits and shortbread and an affogato. Both simple classics, well executed.

The wine list looked strong, with some good by-the-glass options. The bar looked well stocked and nicely presented. As we were leaving the bar area near the restaurant was enjoying the Women’s Soccer Final - which England went on to win.

The area is beautiful, the pub is well appointed. I was pleased to hear locals talking about how happy they were this place was back. It is a strong re-entry from a talented team, and I wish the whole team success.

The staff were lovely, genuine and helpful. It’s a beautiful little pub with great food, warm energy, and people obviously care about it, including those who are now running it. We’ll be back and if you haven’t been, or haven’t been in a while, it is definitely...

This was a return visit to a favourite establishment so it was very disappointing but it did not live up to our previous experiences. We had booked in advance and as always I ensured that they could cater for a celiac diner. On arrival there were very few people in the pub even though it was a bank holiday Monday and this was a surprise as previously it has always been extremely busy. In spite of there being only a handful of diners we had to wait over an hour and a quarter for a simple main course. Options for the celiac diner were incredibly limited and sadly the staff who served us were not correctly informed by the kitchen and/or management. The menu used the rather strange description of MG (minimum gluten). We had to seek clarification since they also offer MGO which is the option to convert a dish to minimum gluten. For a celiac minimum gluten is a very disturbing term are the explanation given by the staff was less than satisfactory. We were told by our server that although they use separate pans and everything in the kitchen was safe they could not rule out the possibility of allergens in the atmosphere and that is what the minimum gluten description meant. That is pretty much the rule everywhere so that was acceptable and the option of cider battered fish and chips which were marked MG was taken with a request for the triple cooked chips rather than the regular fries if possible. Worryingly our server returned to say that the triple cooked chips were not gluten-free. That led to the obvious question about the regular fries and we were then told after some reference to the kitchen by the server that all fries and chips were cooked in the same pan but separately from anything else that may have gluted in. By now we were pretty convinced they hadn't got much idea what they were talking about and again the server returned to the kitchen and came back to say that the cider battered fish could not be served after all and it would have to be grilled instead. But this was on a printed menu with the letters MG and the initial order had been accepted. It was only the question about the chips that revealed a rather horrifying lack of knowledge on the part of server and chef. Alternative options were extremely limited and the knowledge of gluten contamination was clearly inaccurate. There was no vibe in the pub at all and although the staff were very pleasant they were bewildered by lack of knowledge and no chef or manager came to deal with a worrying situation. Regrettably we will not be returning here and I would flag this up to any other celiac as a potentially dangerous place to eat because they really are not on their game at all. I can only assume it has changed hands since we were here 12 months ago. Very disappointing and the sausages and mash I had was very poor indeed with no other vegetable and very...

We sadly had the worst experience on 2/01. First, we had a reservation at 8:30 pm and the restaurant called us in the afternoon to say they were going to close the kitchen at 8pm so we needed to arrive before that. We changed the baby sitter schedule, and sadly 2 mums of our group decided not to come because it was too early to put their little ones to bed before we left. Then when we arrived, the restaurant was litteraly empty. We were the only table, which made for a very weird atmosphere. We received our drinks and starters - which were not very good btw. After that, an hour went by and no the main courses never arrived. We asked several time to the waitress but she kept saying "it's coming soon"... And at 9:30pm she finaly told us that the chef was actually gone, having prepared nothing more than half of two pies!! Claiming she was sorry, he was an agency chef etc. But clearly she was not on top of him this whole time as she would have noticed something was going wrong. So we were left with going back home to cook last minute pasta (my parents in law were too tired and went directly to bed) - having spent 45 pounds on a baby sitter for nothing. It was the last night of our family holiday in the Cotswolds and we wanted to celebrate with a nice dinner. This ruined the night. The restaurant shoud have cancelled the reservation instead of making a group of 8 people drive 30 min x2 and pay a baby sitter...