The best restaurants serving British food in Shaftesbury Central North Dorset South West

They sell themselves as "A restaurant with rooms" and that gives a mere hint of what they're REALLY about here, firstly, the rooms are beautiful, clean, & well maintained, their location literally couldn't be any better, just on the edge of the very lovely hill-top medieval town of Shaftesbury, it's a two minute walk into town and we'll worth a visit in itself, now then, the nitty-gritty, the food, OMG! I'm based in Leicestershire, and now I know how good the food is here, I can tell you that I would drive the 161 miles straight there for a feed here, no exaggerating, all three courses of my evening meal were absolutely stunning, the aromas, the textures, the sheer depth of flavours, I'm not gushing am I ? LoL Anyway, Don't take my word for it, get booking! You won't regret it

This is a hidden gem of a cafe. We went for breakfast and it was lovely. Well worth searching out and they are so friendly. We will be back 😊

We had a lovely breakfast 😋 Good service 👍

Big thank you for my big breakfast

The cafe definitely feels like it’s in an institution - it has a feel of a church/hospital/AgeConcern cafe. It’s in a multi-functional building that houses the prison’s learning centre, on the second floor. It was originally opened to serve prison staff and visitors, but is also open to the general public 10-3 (kitchen closes at 2). It’s simple food - jackets, baguettes etc and is fine. We were served by two very hard working ladies - no sign of any inmates and no “HMP” stencil anymore on the cappuccino (as was shown in someone’s post). You could forget you were in a prison, the few reminders being bags, mugs, aprons etc with the Jailhouse logo on. It’s a great cause (rehabilitating prisoners) and worth supporting if in the area and in need of a simple lunch.

We visited The Mitre on a very busy Saturday evening. To make matters worse, we reached way before our appointment. But nevertheless, the staff accommodated us and found us a table. This set the tone for the entire evening - the staff grappling with large numbers of patrons and yet asking us every now and then if things were alright. This positively impacted out overall experience. The food was quite good too. All in all, a good pub to visit!