Hobbsons
It’s British Pie Week from 2nd to 8th March, and for pies in Lincolnshire, where to dine is Hobson’s choice. This month we’re on Bailgate, dining at a restaurant where a crust is a must
It’s one of our most venerable and beloved national dishes, and still today, 75% of the population enjoy a pie at least once a month, spending at least £1.2bn annually on pies and over £145m alone on pork pies.
A pie-like dish was enjoyed by the Egyptians from around 9,500 BCE and something similar arrived in this country in the medieval era from the continent. Back then they were referred to as coffyns (French for basket, case, or a coffer). After the contents were consumed, the thick, hard crust was discarded or fed to the dogs. For hundreds of years King John would be presented with a lamprey-filled pie-like dish, fining the city 40 marks one year when it somehow forgot.
The word ‘pie’ was used to describe such a dish from the early 14th century, and by the 16th century the recipe for a pastry crust is more akin to what we know today.
Surprise pies were popular among royalty and the nobility at this time too, with live birds or animals emerging chaotically from pies as they were presented to the upper classes and cut open.
Sir Jeffrey Hudson became the 17th century court dwarf of King Charles I’s wife, Queen Henrietta Maria, after he surprised her by bursting out of the large pie in which he had been hiding. Apparently the Queen thought that was hilarious(!) and the two became close friends… Hudson became known as ‘Lord Minimus.’
And of course, pie and mash shops were a staple of Londoners’ diets from the Georgian era, from over 100 shops in the 1800s, to around 30 today. Any more pie facts?
Well, the largest one was created in Warwickshire in 1998, and it weighed 10,540kg, but the most expensive pie ever was made in 2005 with wagyu beef and edible gold leaf.
As far as we’re concerned, though, you can forget all of that. We know where to find the best pies in Lincolnshire. And you’ll be reassured to know that, at Hobbsons Restaurant and Pie Shop, no live animals or dwarfs will burst forth from your main course. There are no gimmicks, just brilliant quality classic English dining made with the best ingredients, care and skill, encased in pastry.
Located at 33 Steep Hill, the building in which Hobbsons is based dates back to the 1500s and is now Grade II listed. The building has served as a place of work for cordwainers, drapers, bakers, grocers and watchmakers before becoming a pub called The Fox & Hounds in the 18th century.
In 1925, TE Laurence (‘of Arabia’) stayed in what is now the restaurant’s kitchen on the first floor, around the time he wrote his Seven Pillars of Wisdom. Later the building became a bookshop, then an antiques dealer, a toy shop and finally in 1987, it was turned into a restaurant, Brown’s Pie Shop.
James Hemingway and Di Fuller took over on 8th March 2023 and a year later, changed the business’s name to prevent confusion with a national chain, renaming it Hobbsons… the logic for the name was that, knowing they wanted to be faithful to their craft, instead of mucking about with deconstructed this and fancy that, they were going to be true to their remit, offering pies and very good pies at that… that’s what’s on offer at the place, so it’s Hobson’s choice; love it or shove it.
Of course, people do love it. In fact, the place is so popular that the four chefs in the kitchen create around 700 pies every single week.
The success of Hobbsons is little surprise given the investment of time, skill and really good ingredients used to create spectacular shortcrust pies, served with buttery mash (or horseradish mustard, garlic mash or chunky triple-cooked chips).
The place is open Wednesday to Sunday from 11am to last orders at 8.45pm, and on Sundays until 4.30pm. A single menu serves daytime and evening diners, with six starters, 10 pies, five other dishes (two pot pies, a beef Wellington, oxtail, plus sausage & mash).
A dedicated Sunday lunch menu is available too, and Hobbsons will offer its Afternoon Tea from mid-February with a range of homemade cakes and pastries.
Local suppliers include butcher Mel Wards of Ruskington, Lincolnshire Game, venison from Cold Hanworth, and veg supplier Jonathan Hull. Puddings, sauces, focaccia, crumbles and coulis are all made in-house, coffee is from Illy and… ten out of ten for the fact that when you’re served a pot of tea you’ll be drinking a blend sourced from Fortnum & Mason. Nice!
The restaurant also uses 90kg of bones a week, rendering them down for five days, and the chefs skim off the fat to create golden dripping in which to cook roasties and Yorkies for Sunday lunchtime… this is good old-fashioned skills and patience!
The restaurant itself seats about 48, and customers can take a seat in the ground floor restaurant or down in the vaulted cellar. The building itself is wildly impractical for a busy restaurant, but it has tonnes of character, arranged around a central spiral staircase and with five storeys, the kitchen on the second and third floors.
To the front of the restaurant there’s a coffee bar too where you can also purchase Hobbsons pies to take away, either hot and fresh to enjoy on Castle Hill, or chilled and wrapped to take home and bake later.
Recommendations? Aunt Doris’s Famous Chicken Pie is a stalwart of the menu, and Gromit’s Chicken & Wensleydale is a winner. Fuji Hero is an homage to what the team reckon is the best Japanese restaurant in Britain, but the star of the show for us Mrs Miggins’ Gloriously Boozy Beef pie, made with port and red wine, a proper rich, traditional pie.
Hobbsons is a serious recommendation for anyone who wants to revel in brilliant, classic British food, traditional, unpretentious and enjoyable! For a pie in Lincolnshire, there’s really no other choice.
On the Menu at Hobbsons
Starters
Sausage roll with piccalilli and salad, £6.50.
Twice baked three cheese soufflé, £8.90.
Caramelised onion soup, £7.20.
Mushrooms on toast with herb and white wine sauce, £7.20.
Ham hock terrine with piccalilli, £8.40.
Duck liver pate with rich port and onion chutney, £7.90.
Shortcrust Pies
Steak & Hobgoblin ruby ale £16.90.
Lamb, mint, redcurrant £18.00
Mrs Miggins’ boozy beef £18.70.
Gromit’s Chicken & Wensleydale £18.90.
Steak, port & Stilton £18.80.
Pheasant & damson £19.80.
Aunt Doris’s chicken pie £16.50.
Steak & kidney £17.40.
Fuji Hiro (cauliflower, katsu) £16.50.
Hobbsons Choice
Oxtail cottage pie £19.80.
Sausages & mash £16.50.
Fish pot pie £16.90.
Cheese pot pie £16.00
Beef Wellington £36.
Puddings
Apple & rosemary crumble £7.50.
Sticky toffee pudding £7.50.
Plum pudding £7.50.
Crème brûlée cheesecake £7.50.
Chocolate tart £7.50.
Sherry trifle £6.95.
NB: Sample menu and featured dishes, subject to availability and change.
Hobbsons, Steep Hill, Lincoln
The Pitch: Lincoln’s ‘Best of British’ restaurant specialising in home crafted pies. The restaurant’s produce and food from starter to puddings are created in house by its four chefs. British Afternoon tea brings a sense of occasion with in house patisserie and Fortnum & Mason providing the restaurant’s excellent teas.”
Opening Hours: Wednesday to Sunday 11am-8.45pm (4.30pm Sunday).
Hobbsons 33 Steep Hill, Lincoln, LN2 1LU. Call 01522 527330 or see www.hobbsons.co.uk.
Read our full feature in the March edition of Lincolnshire Pride, available at https://www.pridemagazines.co.uk/lincolnshire/view-magazines?magazine=March-2026