The Purefoy Arms
Preston Candover, Hampshire
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* Chef-patron Gordon Scott has announced that the pub will be closing its doors for the last time on 27 January 2024.*
The Purefoy, which sits discreetly on the highway through an unsullied village to the south of Basingstoke's fleshpots, takes its role as a community hub seriously. Its dining area feels more pub than restaurant (notwithstanding the appearance of a tasting menu), with a working fireplace and walls in sober nautical blue. A certain flourish distinguishes the cooking: the crustacean contents of an open crab doughnut spill over into its surrounding shellfish sauce, while beetroot tart is pointedly matched with apple sorbet. Local pork with celeriac, bacon and mash demonstrates a readiness to refine classic pub food without transforming it into something puzzling, and an inspection dish of sea bass had its skin properly crisped, with a 'gammon-thick' slice of bacon and silky fennel cream as companions. Chocolate délice with pistachio and yoghurt sorbet might await at the finish line. Service could do with a little sharpening up, according to one reader, but the overall ambience is pleasing indeed. To drink, Hampshire ales and locally distilled gins line up alongside a wine list with some English representatives (including bottles from the nearby Danebury Vineyard).
