Jenkins & Sons
Hi Ben! Can you give us an introduction to Jenkins & Sons?
Jenkins & Sons is a much-loved restaurant and bar that holds a special place in the heart of Penn Hill. Its name comes from the original family business from the 1920s, which operated as a butchers and fishmongers. With its iconic location and charming premises, our establishment has become a hub of popularity among local residents, tourists, and the community at large.
We pride ourselves on providing a superb bar line-up, as well as a broad and tasty dining menu with regular specials also added. We have an atmospheric and rustic interior and also space for 35 covers outside. It’s a beautiful venue.
We’re excited to hear Jenkins & Sons is celebrating its 10 year anniversary. We’d love to know your story. What is your background that led you up to this point?
My brother-in-law started Jenkins & Sons in 2013 - he owned a few places at the time. Jenkins was the site where he could focus on artisan pride and bring back that feeling of being local and supporting local. I was actually a teacher for 13 years until we had our little daughter and I was offered the chance to buy Jenkins whilst I was a Deputy Headteacher. I took the chance to embark on a complete change of lifestyle. It’s fair to say I’ve probably had the most difficult 4 years you could imagine as a business owner with COVID hitting just 9 months into my ownership, but I’ve learnt a lot about myself in that time and I’ve managed to navigate the tricky times and bring some fantastic staff along on the journey with me.
So, for us, the 10 year anniversary is particularly poignant as it’s a business that’s been in the family for 10 years and has survived the ups and downs of the last few years - and we’ve found ways to flourish, too.
We wouldn’t be where we are without our amazing customers.
What dining/drinking experience can we expect from Jenkins & Sons?
Our food and drink line-up is superb so there’s something for everyone. We are quite a broad venue so the customer experience can be anything from a top notch weekend breakfast, to a legendary Sunday Roast (September - May/June) or a midweek catchup with friends to enjoy one of our well-known wood-fired pizzas. We are a particularly buzzy bar on a Friday night so it’s an amazing feel-good venue and suits people of all ages.
Much of the food and drink off your menu is locally sourced, can you tell us a little bit more about this and why it’s important to your business?
We pride ourselves in offering a high quality casual menu with many flavours. Ingredients are key for us so we use reputable local suppliers to get the best produce possible. Because we are a hybrid Restaurant/bar, we ensure that ‘classics’ are offered but with our own twist. For example, our ‘Fish and chips with a twist’ is phenomenally popular - we prepare it with panko crumb and serve with a side of katsu sauce (and our handcut triple-cooked chips, of course). We also have Brixham Sea Bream which is used in a couple of dishes.
Our main menu is quite broad and we are particularly well-known for our artisan wood-fired pizzas. Our dough is made fresh on site daily and requires a 48 hour prove. You can’t compare a wood-fired pizza with other ways of cooking, in my opinion. We have some cracking burgers and A La Carte mains, too.
As well as our main menu, we also have a regular specials menu where the chefs like to try some different things or put a twist on something. Currently we have a very popular homemade Thai red curry. Our best-selling special this year has been the Italian Stallion Burger - just amazing.
We have great relationships with many local suppliers. We use sourdough bread from Bakehouse 24, eggs from Flambards (same eggs as the Chewton Glen use) and a lot of our sauces and coatings are handcrafted on site.
For first timers what would you recommend from the bar or menu? Any new specials or new beers?
The standout ‘bar food’ is our Asian crispy squid. Hand-coated on site (so not your typical bought-in calamari) - this is popular with evening diners as well but it’s also a great bar snack.
In terms of beers - I should mention the Kona Big Wave as I believe we are the only place in Dorset to serve it on tap. It’s imported from Hawaii and it’s gorgeous!
We believe our pizzas are simply the best and well-suited to almost any occasion.
Anything you'd like to add?
We would just like to say thank you to the many people who have been customers of ours and have made it possible for a local independent business survive and thrive during the last 10 years. We are so grateful!
Website → jenkinssons.com
Instagram → @jenkinssons
