The Good Food Guide’s Britain’s 100 Best Local Restaurant List #News

Victoria Hayes
7th July 2023

The Good Food Guide has published its list of Britain’s 100 Best Local Restaurants with Tallow in Royal Tunbridge Wells taking the top spot, as nominated by the public and assessed by Good Food Guide inspectors

 

The Good Food Guide has returned with its ‘Britain’s Best 100 Local Restaurants’ list, as nominated by 37,000 members of the public. We’re pleased to announce that 16 of Britain’s best 100 local restaurants are in the North West, including three of Cheshire’s best restaurants; Covino, The Nag’s Head, and The White Horse.

The overall regional winner of the North West is The Sparrows in Greater Manchester; one of seven Greater Manchester based restaurants that have earned a spot on this year’s list.

 

Tallow, a neighbourhood restaurant in Southborough, Royal Tunbridge Wells has been named the overall Best Local Restaurant by The Good Food Guide, topping a list of 100 local favourites across the country.

 

Regional winners include Les 2 Garçons in London, The Sparrows in the North West, Homestead Kitchen in the North East, The Kinneuchar Inn in Scotland, Seasonality in the South East, Wild Artichokes in the South West, Rocket & Rye in Wales and Tropea in Central and the East of England.

 

The Good Food Guide’s  Editor, Elizabeth Carter said of the winner of Britain’s 100 Best Local Restaurants 2023; “Tallow stood out, head and shoulders above what is a very strong list this year. For a chef of this quality to be so happily focused on running a neighbourhood restaurant is extraordinary. There’s a level of commitment here that would sit happily in many top restaurants. Everything is beautifully thought through, from food you really want to eat – delicious, simple, seasonal – to the remarkably at-ease service and the care of customers.

The menu offers choice (à la carte or tasting) , is affordable, completely changes each month, including the bread and the snacks; regulars like to visit at least once a month in order to try it out. Most live close enough to walk or are a short taxi ride away. They are very lucky.”

 

Tallow owner Donna Taylor said of the award; “What an unexpected and humbling acknowledgement for the whole team at Tallow, and such a privilege to be considered alongside restaurants we love and respect.

We’re incredibly proud to receive confirmation from our guests that Tallow has become what we had hoped, an accessible, relaxed dining experience that they wish to enjoy over and over again.”

 

The complete list includes city centre locations , as well as suburban and rural  offerings. Typically, Best Local Restaurants have been geographically located in classic ‘neighbourhood’ locations, but The Good Food Guide’s team of inspectors found that connection to the community is far more important than the restaurant’s address. Les 2 Garçons in London and Higher Ground, a bistro in central Manchester both epitomise this. 

 

A public nomination for Higher Ground read:“A friendly, welcoming local restaurant in the heart of the city centre, creating a much-needed link to the local food system. Using local produce from the restaurant’s partner farm, Cinderwood Market Garden, guests are able to connect with the seasons and the land. Many regulars and neighbours meet here and enjoy each other’s company, often bumping into other friends which creates a real sense of community”’

 

Britain’s 100 Best Local Restaurants will provide a huge boost to the hospitality industry across the country, highlighting those who often miss the spotlight whilst providing an excellent and vital service to their community.

 

Kate Nicholls, CEO of UKHospitality said of the awards; “Local restaurants are so often the heartbeat of communities; providing jobs, generating economic growth and, most importantly, providing fantastic food. It’s brilliant to see such huge support from the public for their local restaurants and is deserved recognition of their hard work. This sort of support is invaluable as venues face ever-rising costs and is essential in keeping valued businesses viable.”

 

Thom Hetherington, Co-founder of the Northern Bar and Restaurant Show said; “The Good Food Guide was a revelation to me as a fledgling foodie 25 years ago, and its authority and independence is as crucial to today’s diners as ever – not just highlighting big names, but shining a light on the sometimes hidden restaurant gems that locals love and others need to know about.”

 

The list will be published on www.thegoodfoodguide.co.uk .

 

The full list of restaurants can be found below, together with their Best Local Restaurant region. 

 

Central & East of England

Tropea, West Midlands

Watson and Walpole, Suffolk

Chapter, West Midlands

Brix & Bones, Norfolk

Stiffkey Red Lion, Norfolk

Fancett’s Bistro, Cambridgeshire

The Kilpeck Inn, Herefordshire

Hitchen’s Barn, Rutland

Lark, Suffolk

The Silver Cup, Hertfordshire

 

London

Les 2 Garçons, London

Copper & Ink, London

Sam’s Riverside, London

The Holland, London

Giulia, London

Akub Restaurant, London

Hawthorn, London

Church Road, London

 

North East

Homestead Kitchen, North Yorkshire

The Hispanist, East Yorkshire

Hearth, East Yorkshire

Ophelia, Tyne & Wear

Coin, West Yorkshire

Brooks, West Yorkshire 

Long Friday, Tyne & Wear

The Orange Bird, South Yorkshire

Bantam, North Yorkshire

Hinnies, Tyne & Wear

Tonco, South Yorkshire

Hern, West Yorkshire

 

North West

The Spärrows, Greater Manchester 

Four & Twenty, Cumbria 

Belzan, Merseyside

10 Tib Lane, Greater Manchester

The Yan, Cumbria 

Edinburgh Castle, Greater Manchester

Another Hand, Greater Manchester 

Covino, Cheshire

The Kirkstyle Inn and Sportsman’s Rest, Cumbria 

Parkers Arms, Lancashire

Bombay to Mumbai, Greater Manchester

The Nag’s Head, Cheshire

The White Horse, Cheshire 

Lily’s Vegetarian Indian Cuisine, Greater Manchester

Kysty, Cumbria

Higher Ground, Greater Manchester

 

Scotland

The Kinneuchar Inn, Fife

The Loveable Rogue, Strathclyde

Celentano’s, Strathclyd

Bar Brett, Strathclyde

Eighty Eight, Strathclyde 

The Palmerston, Lothians 

L’Escargot Bleu, Lothians

Ga Ga Kitchen & Bar, Strathclyde

Gloriosa,Strathclyde 

Eusebi Deli, Strathclyde

The Oystercatcher, Argyll & Bute

The Dory Bistro, Fife

The Galleon Bistro, Highlands & Islands

KORA by Tom Kitchin, Lothians

The Bothy, Moray

 

South East

Tallow, Kent –  (Overall winner)

Seasonality, Berkshire (South East regional winner)

The Greyhound, Buckinghamshire

The Dew Drop Inn, Berkshire

Samphire, Kent

Five Little Pigs, Oxfordshire

Quince, Kent

The Victoria Oxshott, Surrey 

The Pilgrim, Buckinghamshire

Palmito, West Sussex 

The Purefoy Arms, Hampshire

Pompette, Oxfordshire 

The Folkestone Wine Company, Kent

The Goods Shed, Kent

Fourth and Church, East Sussex 

 

South West

Wild Artichokes, Devon

Sonny Stores, Bristol 

Pythouse Kitchen Garden, Wiltshire 

The Greenhouse, Cornwall 

Art Sushi, Dorset 

Bank, Bristol

Little Hollows Pasta, Bristol

The Cotley Inn, Somerset

Iford Manor Cafe & Kitchen, Wiltshire

Caper and Cure, Bristol 

Brassica, Dorset

Littlefrench, Bristol 

The Rocket Store, Cornwall

Andria, Devon 

Beckford Canteen, Somerset

The Exmoor Forest Inn, Somerset

The Halfway at Kineton, Gloucestershire

 

Wales

Rocket & Rye, Glamorgan

Y Polyn, Carmarthenshire

The Warren, Carmarthenshire 

Heathcock, Glamorgan

Paternoster Farm, Pembrokeshire

The Black Bear Inn, Monmouthshire

Yr Hen Printworks, Ceredigion